


Where There's a Will...

by Jennypen



Series: Will and the Word [2]
Category: Final Fantasy VII, Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-10-13
Updated: 2012-11-06
Packaged: 2017-11-18 03:04:04
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 12
Words: 39,865
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/556170
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jennypen/pseuds/Jennypen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There's always a new kid at school. There's always someone to show him around. But romance isn't all that easy when the laws of physics are made to be broken, and on top of that, when someone is trying to take over the world...<br/>Prequel to A Collection - but should be read afterwards.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> This could be considered a prequel to another story I've written (A Collection). Well, I say 'could' be considered. It most definitely is. However, you don't need to have read A Collection to enjoy this.
> 
> Anyways! Murder, magic and mayhem await, and perhaps a little romance if you squint a bit. Some swearing, some snogging, that's about it. If you don't like trees being beaten, then please walk away, because I'm afraid a tree is injured over the course of the events. If you have come looking for random naughty scenes, this has actual plot so you might be disappointed, although there is a tiny hint of smut somewhere.
> 
> Everything Squeenix-like probably originated at Squeenix. The Will and the Word belong to David and Leigh Eddings, though, but I hope they don't mind me borrowing, because if they do, I won't know where to go. Also, 'Speaking' is my own meandering concept.

_He was almost out of breath, running as fast as he could. The heavy weapons dragged him down and made his back ache, and his pursuer was still catching up. A stitch caught on his left side and he collapsed to his knees, wanting to thump the ground in his frustration, but without the energy to do so. He heard the footsteps behind him slow up and could almost hear the grin. Roxas was almost ready to give in._

_"Well, Roxas, your weakness has failed you. Are you ready to be mine?" Roxas tried to think of a response, but didn't know what to say. He was completely spent. A light by his foot caught his eye, and time seemed to slow as his brain registered what it was seeing. The ground began to glow in a wide curve in front of him, and he smiled._

_Ten foot high flames burst from the aether in an enormous circle around him, and Roxas suddenly knew he was safe._


	2. Chapter 1 - In Which Roxas Meets a Nice Boy

"You know, you DO seem to just brighten the day, Rox." The blond blushed slightly at his companion's compliment, and muttered an embarrassed thanks. He looked at the picture in his shaking hands again, trying not to crinkle the edges of the vellum. The figure in the picture was depicted in an exaggeratedly beautiful style, as was typical of the artist's work. He was slim, blond, blue-eyed, illustrated in bold and completely over-saturated; the emphasis of the piece being the subject as a shining light. The markers added a rough texture to the overall image. Roxas finally lifted his eyes from the artwork, to lock eyes with the artist in question. Naminé grinned cheekily back.

"Is... is this how you see me? I thought we talked about..."

"Oh hush, Roxas, that was years ago, I'm over it now, you idiot.  _I know._  It's like Pence said, you brighten our day. You're just happy, it makes us happy. And I'm poor so stop getting flustered and say 'Thanks, Nami, it's the goddamned best birthday present I've ever gotten, you're the best, blablabla' and we can all get on with the cake."

Hayner burst into laughter and rubbed a rough hand through Roxas' hair in as patronising a fashion as he could imagine. "Yeah, Rox, we want cake. So thank the girl and let's get on with it!"

Roxas snapped out of his thoughts and smiled at Naminé, and whispered,

"Thanks, Nami. It's great, really great." Addressing the rest of the group, he said, louder, "Cake time now!" There was a quiet cheer from the table's occupants, and Hayner took it upon himself to start dishing up the cake Olette had turned up with at the start of the day. Pence greedily stole a larger portion, Olette halved hers and plonked the remainder on his plate, grinning at him, and Hayner gave Naminé and Roxas a slice each, kissed Naminé's hair and began to shovel cake into his mouth at a ferocious speed. Naminé picked up her fork and began to slough off small chunks of cake, and brought them to her lips, but was cut off by a noise from behind her.

The woman behind her was holding out a piece of paper, which she handed to Roxas with a polite smile. He thanked her, and she turned and left. Despite knowing what was contained in the letter, Roxas dutifully lifted the flap and read the note. Hayner grunted at him.

"Seriously, Rox? On your birthday?"

Roxas shrugged at him. "Heh, doesn't matter, just means I get to skip a class, doesn't it?"

"Yeah, well, but cake!" Hayner protested.

"We're going to Tiana's later anyway, so it's ok! Besides," he said, plunking his fork in his cake and picking the slice up whole, "I don't think that'll be an issue." With that he opened his jaw wide and stuffed the entire slice into his mouth, and managed to close his lips afterwards. Pence and Olette burst out laughing at his comical hamster cheeks, and Hayner grinned.

"Yeah, alright. See you in sixth."

Roxas nodded, gathered his bag, and stood to leave. "Famps, Mamimé!"

* * *

'Elegant', Roxas thought to himself. All he could see as he peered through the headmaster's door was a black-gloved hand on a feminine, jutted out hip. The glove was leather, and obviously quite expensive, but Roxas had no idea why it was even there. He himself was clad in shorts and teeshirt, and even with the fans in the ceiling going strong, the heat was stifling. He fanned himself with the notification he'd received earlier, hoping he didn't appear as sweaty as he felt.

As a member of Twilight High's welcoming committee, it was a fairly common occurrence that Roxas would have to meet and greet a new student and then show them around the school. He certainly didn't mind today, as the class he was skipping was history, and he didn't much care for attempting to stay awake post-cake while his teacher droned on. Getting to avoid that was a blessing.

Roxas wondered who the new girl was. The last three people he'd shown around, all of which had been the previous year, had been male, and he had been beginning to wonder if the headmaster, a genial soul named Cid, was trying to set him up.

Twilight High had a fairly open attitude to inclusion - there was a club for  _everything_ , and every May the LGBT society (hilariously named 'Flaunt It!', though no-one felt the need to) held a Mardi Gras-like parade that was second only to homecoming in terms of popularity, and definitely first in terms of hookups. As such, the sexual preference of pretty much everyone in the school was loosely known. Oddly, despite Roxas' much-discussed appearance, he had the largest obstacle to asking him out - Hayner. Roxas and Hayner had been best friends since practically before birth - they were first cousins, and Hayner was aggressively protective over his diminutive, delicate-appearing cousin. As such, he tended to throw himself into the organisation of the parade, rather than the enjoying of it. Given that, it was still no surprise that Cid amuse himself by purposely selecting a student whom he thought would be compatible with the new incoming student - he himself had set up Flaunt It! over 40 years ago when he passed through the school as a student. The fact that he was happily married to a portly woman named Shera who had borne four ridiculously overachieving children did not diminish his support for the club.

The indistinguishable chatter from the room suddenly became clear, and Roxas heard Cid's voice approach the door. He stood quickly to meet eyes with the headmaster, whose gaze twinkled as he pulled open the door and stepped aside to reveal a most definitely un-female tall boy behind him. Roxas visibly started, but quickly recovered and affixed a winning smile to himself.

"Axel Valentine, this is Roxas Coopla. He'll show you around. Roxas, this is Axel, he's a senior who just transferred from Radiant Garden, he's looking to apply for TU." Twilight University, on the outskirts of the town, was one of the leading arts and history universities in the whole Kingdom, and it was somewhat common for students to transfer into senior year when they wanted to attend, as Twilight High students were given preferential placement. "Axel, see me Friday to talk about how you got on. Good luck, and have a good week. Any concerns, you know where to go." The new student nodded, and turned his attention to Roxas, and Roxas was able to make a first impression. Axel was very tall, alarmingly skinny and had an enormous mop of spiked, flaming red hair. He wore black, frayed skinny jeans, converse shoes, and a bright green t-shirt with some kanji across the chest. Several colourful leather straps vied for space on his right wrist, and a battered watch took precedence on his left, though a few bands were here too. Most distinctive, however, were his acid-green eyes, which regarded Roxas with a calm arrogance. Roxas swallowed and found his voice.

"H-hi." He coughed. "Uh, come with me, I'll show you where everything is." He had a thought. "Have you gotten your timetable?" Axel nodded, and his top lip curved upwards into an amused grin. "Oh, ok, come on then!" He turned to lead.

"Nice to meet you,  _Roxas._ "

Roxas would have laughed, but for the inflection that Axel put on his name - it was powerful and commanding, yet detached and amused at the same time. It was almost... No. With some effort, he gave a brief chuckle and managed to return, "Hehe, yeah, nice to meet you. Follow me, then."

* * *

Roxas had given the school tour many times, and he could tell Axel was less eager than most - he seemed either distracted or uninterested, but he nodded politely and appeared to take in what was being told to him. They found his allocated locker along the way, which by luck was just across the hall and a few down from Roxas'. Axel removed a lock from his bag and stuck it on the outside of the locker, removed a piece of paper from his bag, scribbled something hastily on it, then shoved it roughly through the vent. Roxas looked questioningly at him, but he offered no explanation, so Roxas carried on demonstrating where various classrooms were until they reached the end of their little journey - the gym. It was empty, and so Roxas opened the door to show Axel the facilities, but when he turned around to hold the door open for the redhead, he started - Axel was staring, wide-eyed, around the room. His eyes moved slowly around the absolutely enormous gym, taking in the gymnastics equipment at one end, the basketball court at the other, and the steam coming out of a room at the farthest corner from where they were which could only be the locker room. Roxas smiled inwardly, remembering his first reaction to seeing the gym.

Incredulity was justified - the gym was one of the largest indoor rooms Roxas (and, evidently, Axel) had ever seen. The ceiling was over one hundred feet high, and, over the basketball court end, held an array of lights clearly designed for a stage. There were folded flat bleachers against the walls on three sides of the court, and the same at the far end. Fold-away wall panels along the long walls of the room showed that the room itself could be divided into small sections, but open like this, it was breathtaking. Axel's eyes were gleaming, and he muttered to himself something Roxas could not distinguish. He turned suddenly, and looked at Roxas with excited eyes.

"Hey Roxas, is there a martial arts club round here?"

Roxas gave a small nod. "Yeah, on Thursdays after school there's some kind of club. I don't know what they teach though - I think it's a little multidisciplinary. My friend went there for two years and came out doing capeoira and ju jitsu, so I guess they do a bit of everything, maybe. It's not just for schoolkids though, people from the town do it too. The gym gets booked out for a lot of stuff - there's a huge diary just outside that tells you what's on and when, and who runs what. You do martial arts?"

Axel smiled a small knowing smile, and answered, "A little. It was more for my brother, though. He would go NUTS if he saw this place. He's a bit hyperactive, he likes big spaces he can run around."

"How much younger than you is he?"

Axel let out a barking laugh. "HA! Reno! He's twenty, just on a permanent stupid sugar high. I swear it affects his ability to think, he's dumb as a post but faster 'n anything you've ever seen. I can't wait to tell him this is here, he'll freak."

Roxas looked idly at his watch, then sharpened himself to attention. "Uh, nice. Listen, Axel, do you know what your next class is? Only the bell is about to go and we're reeeeeeeally far from some of the classrooms."

Axel nodded and fumbled in his dilapidated messenger bag for a little purple plastic folder with the school's logo on it. He rifled through the sheets within, studied the timetable for a second, then said, "MWY-411 - uh, where's the key, why can't they make this cle- oh, found it. English lit. In the music room, apparently. Makes sense."

Roxas rolled his eyes, and replied, "I'm taking that class too. Before you ask, I've always been one English class ahead of the curve, I'm not some superkid, I just like words. Come on, it's right back where we started so we need to get going." As if to accentuate his point, the bell went, and the sound of doors opening and students pouring out echoed through the open doors to the gym. Roxas led Axel out of the gym, and walked to the music room, where the senior class were starting to arrive, waiting for their teacher to arrive. Roxas took his usual seat in the third row, and Axel, after a moment's hesitation, took the seat next to him. Some of the seniors nodded politely, and then went back to their own little chattering conversations. The teacher arrived and hushed the noise, flung her books on the table and closed the door to the music room. She sat on the edge of the desk, searched the room until she saw Axel, and smiled.

"Ah, there you are. Class, we have a new senior student starting today - Axel-" Her eyes shot open wide and she reached back for a piece of paper atop her bookpile, and squinted at the handwriting that was evidently illegible. '-is that Villentene?"

"Valentine." Axel corrected quietly.

"Valentine. Okily doke. Right, well, welcome Axel. Hope you can read fast because I don't tolerate anyone who hasn't already read the material before class. Ok, everyone, we're starting Macbeth today - hey!" She said the last word indignantly to a chorus of groaning in the room. "Come on, give it a try. I KNOW it's hard going, but there's murder, madness, death, dismemberment, and even a twist ending. Depending on the adaptation, there's a bit of jiggy in there too." At this, the class perked up and she began to remove the tattered copies from her bookpile and pass them out. "So we're gonna read it out like we're actors doing a run-through. Three witches to start off with - who wants to be a witch?" Axel winked at Roxas and stuck his hand up.

* * *

_When shall we three meet again?_

_In thunder, lightning, and in rain?_

_When the hurlyburly's done,_

_When the battle's lost and won._

_That will be ere the set of the sun._

* * *

After the English class ended, Roxas showed Axel to his final class, demonstrated where his first class of the next day was, and then bid him farewell. However, he slid a piece of paper with his number on it into Axel's hand, and explained that if he was stuck for anything, he was available. Axel accepted the paper and stuffed it into his pocket with a polite nod, waved a tiny wave, and walked into the classroom. Roxas watched through the windows to see the slim boy take up a seat at the back of the classroom. As soon as he turned, however, Roxas ducked out of the way and waited for his heart rate to return to normal. He examined his hands, and made the decision to head to the bathroom, to wash the sweat from his palms. He sped into the bathroom, ran cold water and splashed it over his face, finally examining himself in the mirror. His cheeks were flushed, and there were several beads of sweat at the side of his brow at his hairline. Roxas grimaced, and said to himself,

'Roxas, you need help. What are you gonna do next, have a frickin' nosebleed?' The image made him giggle, and he thought about what if he did that in front of the older boy. He wondered if the blood would manage to match Axel's burning red hair, and decided that unless it could glow, there wasn't a chance.

Roxas was  _stunned_. He had realised several years ago that he was totally uninterested in girls, but until today, he wondered if it was just a phase, or a sense of equality, or just to be difficult - he had been open to the concept, but, despite his general reputation, he had never had anyone he was particularly interested in from the male side of life, either. Briefly, the thought flashed across his mind that perhaps it took the right person, and Roxas' pituitary gland evidently had been jolted into action by the redhead. He was  _beautiful_ ; smooth, pale skin, mischievous eyes, just the slightest edge of danger. Roxas had noticed that he had the tip of a tattoo poking out from under his left sleeve, but no more. His right ear had been decorated with a number of piercings and scaffolding, something Roxas had always wanted to do but never thought he would be permitted, but his left ear was totally unadorned. In a word, he was perfect.

Roxas just hoped to god he remembered that he existed.

* * *

The final bell rang, and Roxas gathered his bag, wandering past his locker and dumping some books inside. As he left the building, he spotted his own friend group on a bench next to the car park. He waved at them, then slowed his pace. Behind them, leaning cavalierly against the front of an enormous black Mustang, was a figure who was unquestionably related to Axel. He was of a similar frame, and he wore a black suit, despite the heat. A pair of sunglasses hid his eyes, framed by long red hair tied in a ponytail in a shade even brighter than Axel's. He was definitely older by several years.

A bump against his shoulder jolted him forward, and he raised an arm to rub it, while giving a dirty look to the student who'd brushed against him. However, when he saw Axel winking back at him, he froze his face and attempted to adopt a neutral stance.

"Thanks for today,  _Roxas_. See you tomorrow." He took off in the direction of the waiting car. The driver grinned at him and walked around the side, meeting Roxas' glance as he went. Axel got into the passenger seat and the car reversed and drove away. Roxas finally found his voice.

"You're welcome..." At that point, Hayner yelled at him to hurry his butt up, so he shook himself out and hurried over to join the boisterous group.

"What a jerk! He hurt you Roxas?" Hayner's aggression was somewhat undermined by Roxas bursting out laughing.

"Chill, Hayner. He was just saying thanks for showing him around, that's all. No sweat. WHO'S HUNGRY!" A chorus of 'me!'s echoed from the bench, and as such, the group all piled into Pence's VW van, and they trundled off to Tiana's. As they pulled out, Hayner whispered in Roxas' ear.

"He shoved you, Roxas, you almost fell over. If he touches you, I'll kill him."

Roxas gave him the filthiest glare he thought possible, and hissed back, "Back OFF Hayner, I know him three hours. You have GOT to stop being so protective, it's really disrespectful and getting on my nerves." Hayner's eyes widened in shock, but quickly narrowed into a look that clearly said 'we'll have this out later'.

* * *

Sweat dripped from fiery crimson tendrils. Another lash sounded out, but no sound other than the muffled grinding of teeth was audible in the dim room. Deep in the bowels of the large house, an ebony-haired man smirked and raised his arm once more.


	3. Chapter 2 - In Which Food is Partaken

The next day Roxas turned up early, but didn't see Axel when he went to his locker. After lingering a bit longer than he would have deemed 'unsuspicious', he shrugged and walked to the lab where he met his lab partner with a falsely jovial tone. Zexion was a short, slate-grey haired child who looked cold and distant, but up close he made Roxas laugh. He didn't hang out with Roxas outside of physics class, but Roxas didn't mind - he knew Zexion had a job after school, so he did not complain.

"What's wrong with you?"

Roxas jumped at Zexion's cutting tone. He missed nothing. "Nothing, really, Zex, it's dumb." Zexion raised an eyebrow, and Roxas sighed softly, and continued, "Alright, but you're sworn to secrecy, I don't want to get the hound sniffing for blood. So, there's this guy..." He paused and waited for a reaction, and almost missed the barely-perceptible smile appear briefly behind Zexion's eyes. He went on, "...not like that, though. Just met him, thought I'd see him again today, and didn't."

"It's only 8am. Plenty of time. You can save the emo for later, Roxas."

Roxas lightly slapped Zexion's arm. "Oh hush. I'm not moping, just hormones. I am one of those accursed 'teen-agers', my dear boy." Zexion snorted at that, and the moment passed. Just before the teacher walked in, Roxas checked his timetable to remind himself where he was next. As his eye traced down the 'Tuesday' column, his heart skipped a beat - Double English. He had no time to dwell, however, as the teacher arrived at that point with a box full of slinkies, muttering something about waveforms.

* * *

He was already there, waiting in the seat he had sat in the previous day, the seat next to it left unoccupied. Roxas entered the room as calmly as he could, and sat down, pulling his books out on the desk in front of him. When this was finished, he turned as nonchalantly as he could to his left. Almost immediately, he had to fight the rising heat in his cheeks as Axel grinned at him.

"Yo."

"Hi. You're still here, then."

"Were you worried?"

"Nah. Did you have a nice evening yesterday?" At Axel's nod, he pressed further. "Any particularly fun things happen?"

"Nothing much. Got grilled by my brother about school. Grilled him about college. Had pizza. Jerked off. Went to bed." Roxas stared at him, and Axel's eyes glittered. "Ha! Prude. Just kidding. How about you?"

After a shaky laugh, Roxas gave a play by play of the previous evening at Tiana's, culminating in the horrendous karaoke climax of the night. Axel sat silently, leaning on an upturned palm, smiling softly all the while. Roxas spoke animatedly, but after a while he began to falter as he noticed that Axel was actually examining him closely. His eyes were as intense as they had been when he first emerged from Cid's office the previous day. They were  _exquisite_  - a shimmering, acid green, inquisitive and with a permanent hint of amusement to them. Before the moment could get awkward, however, there was a bluster at the door.

Headmaster Cid entered the room, apologies spilling from his lips about lateness. He was followed by a grey-haired figure whom the class did not recognise.

"Hello everyone, I am sorry for the delay once again. Miss Gainsborough has been taken ill, and will be away for the foreseeable future." Murmurs broke out among the class. "I have managed to secure you a replacement, however. This is Mr Xemnas - I trust you will give him the respect that he can expect from Twilight High's students." The class nodded, and Cid beamed, gave a final 'good luck' handshake to the new teacher, and left. Once the door closed, the smile left the silver-haired man, and he walked to the board, picked up a marker, and wrote 'Professor Xemnas' in a neat script. When finished, he faced the class. Beside him, Roxas could  _feel_  Axel trying to keep from sniggering, and only barely accomplishing it.

"Hello, class. My name, as you have heard, is  _Professor_  Xemnas. I have been teaching in the Rattigan Academy for the last number of years as head of English. I expect that you will not be at the level I am accustomed to, but it is my aim to correct that. Macbeth, open. We are going to read it together." He fixed the class with a searching stare, before settling on Axel in the third row. His lip curled upwards in what was clearly poorly-controlled disgust, and he schooled himself quickly. Roxas was instantly scowling, almost defensively, but a quick glance in Axel's direction showed the redhead was totally unaffected. "You, read." Axel lazily opened his book, and read from where they'd left off the previous day.

"Good sir, why do you start; and seem to fear

Things that do sound so fair? I' the name of truth,

Are ye fantastical, or that indeed

Which outwardly ye show?"

Roxas eventually found where they had started from, and after catching up, he turned his gaze to Axel, and did a double take. Axel was looking at his nails as he spoke, clearly reciting from memory. After finishing Banquo's speech, he languidly raised his eyes to the Professor, giving him what was honestly the most laid-back challenging expression Roxas had ever seen, or even thought possible. After a minor frown, Xemnas picked another student, and the reading continued. Roxas stole another glance at Axel, who was grinning at right back at him. Roxas gave him a curious smile, and they turned their attention back to the class.

* * *

"Hey Roxas, how many people have joined that martial arts club?" Axel and Roxas were walking towards the cafeteria for lunch. The elder boy had stuffed his bag in his locker and was carrying simply a battered notebook in one hand.

"I think that last term they had, like, ten people or something. My lab partner goes, he's always telling me just how much fun it is, and he's the most introverted person in existence. I keep thinking that I should." He paused. "Why, were you gonna go?"

"Thinkin' bout it. Used to do some stuff at my old school, not serious or anything."

The words came out of Roxas' mouth before he could stop himself. "If you want, I'd go with you."

"Oh really?"

Roxas could feel the brush creep up his cheeks. "Y-yeah. I mean, uh, y'know, might be fun, and I can't really let you out alone in your first week? 'Cos I'm responsible for you and all."

"Riiiiiiiight. Good to know, shortie."

"RoxAAAAS!"

Roxas balked at the sound of Olette's singsong voice yelling at him from across the cafeteria. He turned around and saw her seated at their usual table, Hayner and Naminé already in audience, Pence nowhere to be seen as yet. He gave a soft wave, picked up his tray and approached the lunch queue ahead of Axel, who paused momentarily, and said, quietly,

"Listen, Roxas, I gotta go get something from the library. Uhh, so are we going to the club tonight or...?"

"Well, I haven't got anything else on... do you?"

"Nope. Ok then, well, I'll see you tonight. Starts at 5, right?"

"Yeah. See ya."

"Later." Axel shoved his notebook under his arm, and promptly walked out of the cafeteria. After picking up his lunch, Roxas moved to sit down next to the group. Olette stole a french fry, and asked, pointedly,

"So... is he as weird as he looks?"

Roxas considered his answer. "Um... not sure yet. Seems ok. I know him a day, Olette, gimme a break."

"Only know him for a day, and your face looks like you got slapped by a lobster."

Roxas went rigid. "Wha-what?"

"It was bound to happen eventually, and he is hot." She shrugged. "Hey Nami, did you still want to go to the lab today?" The conversation moved on like she'd said nothing, but Roxas was stuck on what she'd implied. Was he that obvious? He hoped not, and that she was just teasing him.

* * *

The club went differently to Roxas' expectations. He arrived a little early to the gym, to find Axel already changed and standing in the gym hall, talking quietly with the gym leader who ran the club, a deceptively muscular brunette who only went by his first name, Leon. Roxas had had gym with him for four years before he realised he didn't know Leon's surname. He knew Leon was into sparring, as the school trophy cabinet had bloomed with trophies from various martial arts tournaments, since he'd arrived, although famously no-one from the club had ever managed to win the Struggle. How Roxas had never made the connection he didn't know. Zexion turned up just as it was about to start, and he gave a surprised look at Roxas, before spotting Axel across the room, and then he gave Roxas a sidelong wink, mouthing the word 'oh' as he did. He followed it with a thumbs up. Roxas blushed, and turned back to tying his shoelaces.

As it was their first session, Roxas and Axel warmed up with the rest of the club, completed a few basic exercises, but after that were relegated to a bench off to the side as spectators as the rest of the members split into groups practicing different disciplines. Contrary to Roxas' earlier assertions, there were over forty people in the club, and, in fact, Leon had four assistants helping him guide the members in their efforts. Roxas could not tell what appealed to him the most, because he was acutely aware of the body next to him. Even the short twenty minute warm-up had left Roxas out of breath and sweating, but Axel was as calm and relaxed as if he'd been watching television. Wearing a vest, his tattoo was finally visible on his arm - it was a jet black outline of a phoenix, and it covered most of his left bicep, which was surprisingly toned. In fact, most of what Roxas could sneak a peek at was incredibly well-built, which led him to the inevitable conclusion that Axel's semi-interest in martial arts was probably somewhat understated.

"Any idea what you wanna do?" Axel's question pulled Roxas from his reverie.

"Not sure," Roxas sighed. "I mean, that capoeira thing looks awesome, but I have no idea. What about you?"

Axel shrugged. "Well, I did a little kendo in my last school, so probably a bit of that - I like the idea of having something to hold up in my way, rather than just my arms. They're a bit weedy." Roxas laughed and coughed at the same time, and ended up with eyes welling up as he struggled for air. Axel slapped him lightly on the back.

"I-I'm ok. Yeah, real weedy. Kendo looks like the most fun."

"It is fun." They both turned to the new voice, where Leon was standing a few feet away, two shinai held in his hands. He tossed them at the seated duo, and beckoned them forth. "Come on, you can learn the basics over here with Auron while the others are practicing. Axel winked at Roxas, and they both stood.

* * *

After the club finished, Roxas followed Axel into the showers, and stood in the cubicle next to him, slowly washing his hair. It had been an invigorating workout, but even from that small lesson, Roxas had seen that Axel was far more skilled than he was letting on. He was sure that Auron, their teacher, had noticed it too, but he'd said nothing as Axel moved gracefully about, and Roxas struggled to even hit the correct posture. However, Auron had been most encouraging, assuring Roxas he had 'potential', and Roxas had left happily.

"Hey Axel?"

"Yeah?" Axel's voice was watery, as his head was under the showerhead.

"Just exactly how much of this have you done before?"

Axel chuckled. "Eh, a little bit, not a lot. A few meetings, you know, casual stuff. I got good muscle memory, I guess." While he appeared completely genuine, it still jarred with what Roxas had seen earlier, but he shrugged.

"Well, you must be some kinda natural then, heh." He rinsed his hair, and when he opened his eyes again, Axel had vanished from beside him. A towel was tossed in his direction and fell over his eyes, and he lifted it off, shut the shower off, and saw Axel already had his jeans on, his hair dropping rivulets of water onto his chest. His jeans rode low, and Roxas could see a little bright red trail of hair just beneath his naval. ' _That_ _colour_ _is_ _NATURAL?_ _'_ Roxas thought to himself. He also had a few more tattoos than simply what was visible on his bicep. Roxas wrapped the towel around himself, and busied himself with getting dressed, while Axel occupied himself on his phone.

"Hey Roxas?"

"Yeah?"

"You maybe wanna get a soda or something? I'm really thirsty, and I'm all out of water."

Roxas frowned slightly, he was sure he'd seen Axel put three bottles of water into his bag just before the club meeting. However, the redhead removed all three bottles from his bag, and they were indeed drained, confusing the blond. "Yeah sure, no problem."

"Uh... do you know anywhere to go? I still haven't quite settled in yet..."

"Yeah, I know just the place."

* * *

At 8pm, Tiana's was heaving, but Roxas and Axel managed to squeeze a booth as someone was leaving. Tiana herself rushed over to clean the tables, throwing a hurried hello to Roxas. Axel made to pick up a menu, but Roxas asked him quickly,

"Are you veggie?"

"No, why?"

Roxas ignored his question, and asked Tiana, "Two bayou burgers, a bowl of onion rings to share, and two cinnamon thickshakes. Oh yeah, and a plate of beignets for after." She grinned at him, and nodded, walking off without writing a word down.

Axel stared at him. "Well, I didn't think we'd get to the you ordering for me stage of our relationship so soon." He raised an eyebrow, and Roxas laughed at him.

"Ha. Funny. It's the best thing on the menu, by miles. It's what I usually have in here. I was here last night with everyone for my birthday, but we had a big sharing platter so I didn't get a burger, but damn, I was craving for one! Seriously, you'll die, they're amazing."

"Sure. Happy birthday, by the way. You thirteen now?"

Roxas glowered slightly, before noticing the twinkle in Axel's eye, and realised it was actually a question. "Oh ha ha. Sixteen, thanks. According to my mom I officially know 'everything' now and I should just quit while I'm ahead."

"Probably true. My dad still says the same to Reno, but I'm pretty sure Reno actually believes it."

"Is it just you and Reno, then?"

"Yeah. And my dad and uncle. My dad hasn't moved yet, he's finishing the sale of our house in Radiant Garden and tying up some loose work ends. Should be out by the end of next week, but my uncle came straight up with us."

"Your uncle lives with you? Is he really old?"

An unidentifiable look crossed Axel's face fleetingly, then vanished. "No, not at all, but after my mom died, Uncle Vinny moved in with us, and he's been there ever since. You don't get to see too much of him though, he's kinda private, but fun to talk to when he's in the mood."

"You have an actual uncle who is actually called Uncle Vinny."

"What?"

"Nothing. It's a fil- nothing." Roxas adjusted the cutlery in front of him idly, and changed the subject. "So, uh, why did you move here, anyway?"

Axel paused, and for a moment Roxas thought he wasn't going to answer, but he realised Axel was getting his story straight. "I'm from Midgar originally. Lived there until I was 8, then my mom died. My dad met my mom at work, and he couldn't stand to be there, 'cos it just made him think of her, so we moved to Radiant Garden. It was beautiful there, but I wanted to go to TU to do history, and my dad is freelancing, and my brother decided he wanted to transfer to TU too... he's almost got enough credits to graduate anyway, so... it just sorta happened. It's a bit of a blur, to be honest." He looked at Roxas, who seemed almost to be daydreaming. He waved a hand in front of the blond's face. "Whoa, hello in there?"

Roxas snapped to attention. "Oh, sorry! Uh, sorry, I was just thinking about something."

"How she died."

"How did you-"

"Everyone always wonders that. It's not complicated. I'm supposed to be a middle child."

"Oh? Oh. OH." Roxas' eyes opened wide as he realised what Axel meant, but the face in front of him, while serious, was also completely calm - not even an involuntary twitch.

"It was nine years ago, Rox. I came to terms with it. Things happen, people die. It's really sad, and sometimes I wish I could ask her stuff, but there's nothing I can do about it, so I move on. I hope sometimes she'd be proud of me." He paused, as if considering what to say next, then took a deep breath. "Like, there is ONE thing I know she'd-" At that point, he was interrupted by the arrival of their food, which seemed to completely derail his line of thought. Roxas waited for him to finish his sentence, but instead he started an entirely new topic, in a completely different tone of voice. "Ok, this had better be amazing, seeing as I don't even know what is in it."

"Just trust me."

"Yeah yeah fine." He picked up the burger, and took an enormous bite, and instantly his eyes widened. Through the food, he muffled, "Foh my vuffing vod, vhat ij IN vis?"

Roxas let out a peal of laughter. "I don't even know. I had one, once, about six years ago, and I've had a million since then I'm sure. It's awesome though, isn't it?"

"Vit's infreffabuhl."

Roxas picked his own up, and tucked in hungrily. "Man, I'm starving. This is the best thing ever." He slurped his thickshake, and Axel followed suit, eyes bulging even more as the cinnamon washed down his throat.

"Roxas... this place is amazing."

"Yeah, just wait 'til you see the bill at the end, too. You'll be even happier. I have no idea how she does it, but Tiana's has the best food, and it's really, really cheap. It does mean it is ALWAYS jumping in here, but it's still amazing. If you're nice enough to her... she even does takeout. Not just for anyone, though."

"Lemme guess, you're not just anyone."

"Yep."

Axel raised an eyebrow at the cocky answer, but Roxas was suddenly engrossed in his napkin.


	4. Chapter 3 - In Which Revelations are Key

Roxas didn't lie - the bill was so reasonable Axel actually examined the receipt to see if they'd added on everything. After polishing off everything in front of them, they paid, and left, Tiana giving Roxas a wink and a wave as they did so. Outside, Axel and Roxas walked over to where each had locked up their bicycles, a comfortable silence between them. Axel had his battered messenger bag and a gear bag thrown over the same shoulder, and he bent to remove his bike lock before storing his gear bag on his pannier. Roxas busied himself with his own bike lock, before a sharp ringing sounded. Axel reached into his pocket, and answered his chirping phone.

"Hel- what? Stop shouting at me, I can't hear you. No, I was going to the- I did tell you about it. Yes, it was. No, I had a fr- well, yes of COURSE I was, you idiot," he shouted into the device. Roxas tried not to eavesdrop, but a quick glance at the redhead almost made him giggle - Axel was looking at him, but was rolling his eyes in a clear expression of pained patience. "Godammit, Reno, you need to calm your tits. I'm just coming home now, I'll be there in five. Yeah yeah, whatever, see you in a minute." He hung up. "Sorry about that, Rox. I think he forgot I told him I was going to the club after school, he almost had a heart attack when I didn't come home, and then I had my phone on silent by accident. Oh well. Anyway, thanks for today, it was pretty sweet. See you tomorrow, gotta run."

"See ya."

Without any further ado, he kicked off the ground and pedalled furiously away. Roxas watched him turn around the corner, before shaking his head and making ready to leave himself. Before he did, however, he noticed out of the corner of his eye a familiar object on the ground - Axel's messenger bag. Immediately, he took off after Axel, but to his dismay, when he turned the corner onto the main road, there was no sign of the redhead, and despite the fact that Axel clearly had his phone with him, Roxas had given him his number, but the older boy had not reciprocated.

Mulling it over, Roxas wheeled his back over to the nearest bench, and sat down, contemplating what to do next. He could just wait until the next day, of course, but he didn't know if Axel needed anything in the bag. He wouldn't know unless... Roxas hesitated, but instinct told him Axel wouldn't mind if he opened it, and so, despite not being able to fathom where that feeling came from, he slowly opened the battered bag. Inside he found an equally battered canvas pencil case covered in what had to be distracted scribblings, a brand new A4 pad of paper, three separate peppermints packets with one or two peppermints in each, and an A5 notebook that was covered in stickers on the outside. Clearly, this was Axel's journal of some sort, which meant he might have mentioned his recent move. Feeling this was the right thing to do, he opened the notebook on the back cover, and to his surprised delight found a haphazard scribble of an address in Twilight Town. It wasn't far - perhaps ten minutes hard cycle - so Roxas gamefully loaded the messenger bag on the back of his bag, and ambled off towards the address in the journal.

Twenty minutes later, he arrived at the gates of a large house that was almost a mansion but not quite.  _'_ _Roxas,_ _what_ _are_ _you_ _doing_ _with_ _yourself._ _You_ _could_ _just_ _wait_ _until_ _tomorrow._ _Why_ _don_ _'_ _t_ _you_ _wait_ _until_ _tomorrow?_ _'_ , his inner voice said to him.  _'_ _You_ _don_ _'_ _t_ _even_ _know_ _if_ _you_ _'_ _re_ _at_ _the_ _right_ _house!_ _For_ _all_ _you_ _know_ _it_ _could_ _be_ _a_ _place_ _Axel_ _is_ _going_ _to_ _rob_ _blind!_ _'_  The thought was ludicrous, but only just - while Roxas' innate sensibilities told him Axel was an honest person, he had known him for less than two days, and it was almost definitely a bit creepy that he stalked him home just to give him his notebook, when he could have just waited until tomorrow. Regardless, he continued up the driveway.

When he reached the top of the driveway, something was immediately amiss. He recognised one of the four cars in the driveway - it was the Mustang he'd seen Axel get picked up in the previous night. However, just beyond it, the front door was ajar. Gingerly, Roxas approached the front door, and rang the bell. A few minutes passed with no answer, and he rang it again. Inside the door, the hallway was completely dark. With a deep sense of foreboding, Roxas called out.

"...hello?" Unsurprisingly, there was no response. By now, Roxas was concerned, and his usually shy nature was kicked to the rear of his mind as he stepped cautiously through the door, and into the hall.

Once inside, it took his eyes only a moment to adjust, and he could see well enough down the hallway. It was completely deserted, but the four cars outside told him someone had to be home, so he continued down the corridor, listening intently, until at last, at the base of the grand staircase, he heard the faintest sound of... what was it? It was muted, like it was behind a closed door. Walking around on the spot, Roxas identified at last that it was coming from behind the staircase, and, sure enough, he found a small door that led underneath the staircase. Opening it cautiously, the sound became immediately amplified - it was the sound of a fight. Roxas hastened his step down the stairs, until he heard the unmistakeable sound of something hard hitting a human, and Axel's voice cried out briefly, and he broke into a run down the pitch black corridor at the bottom of the small flight of steps. The space seemed to brighten until he could see a set of enormous double doors, and underneath, a bright light spilling out onto the floor. Roxas hesitated at the door, unsure, until there was a loud crash, and Axel screamed again. Without thinking, Roxas threw open the door. Immediately, all sounds ceased.

The light inside was temporarily blinding after the darkness of the rest of the house, but once Roxas could see, he froze on the spot. Staring back at him were three sets of eyes. Axel was on the floor on his back, holding two unusual round weapons in the air, which he had clearly until moments ago been using to defend himself. Above him, the figure Roxas recognised as being Reno had a thin, slightly burnt wood baton raised, hanging in the air with an unspoken but interrupted threat. Both were dressed in identical gym shorts and polo shirts; Axel's were green, Reno's a pale blue.

It was actually the third man standing behind them, however, that drew his attention. The man had long, flowing dark hair, calm eyes and a stance that implied he was in authority. He was the first to speak.

"And who might you be?"

The sound snapped Axel out of his shock, and he shifted underneath Reno so that the older redhead lost his balance, smacking into the floor. "Roxas! What are you doing here!" The older man raised an eyebrow at Axel from behind him, but said nothing. Roxas sheepishly pulled Axel's bag over his shoulder, and held it out in slowly in front of him. Axel's eyes widened, but the dark-haired man spoke before he had a chance.

"Ah, I see. And, perchance, did you find the front door unlocked, little samaritan?"

Roxas nodded. Both the older man and Axel turned and looked at Reno; Axel glaring, the older man witheringly. Reno shrank slightly.

"Most kind of you to return my nephew's property. Boys, perhaps this is an opportune time to break for tonight? We'll resume this tomorrow." He swept past Roxas and gave a polite, but curt smile, and Roxas was slightly unnerved to notice his eyes were a deep, blood red. Reno and Axel looked at each other, before Reno laughed at his younger brother, and said,

"Well, all yours."

Axel gave him a look that could have killed if such a thing were possible, and said, "This is partly YOUR fault too, Reno."

Reno snorted." Pffft, whatever, I'm still not the idiot that brought him here in the first place. Good luck." He picked himself off the ground, shook himself down, and made to walk past Roxas. As he did so, he stuck out his hand. "Nice to meetcha, I'm Reno, the better looking one. Thanks for bringing Ax's bag back, poor kid can't be left out alone, nice he's got someone lookin' out fer him." Roxas shook his hand as though he was afraid Reno was going to rip it off, and the older redhead wandered off out the door behind him, leaving Roxas alone in the room with Axel, who sighed audibly, and motioned to Roxas to join him as he walked to a bench at the far side of the room, where he sat down and gulped from a bottle of water. As Roxas was walking across the room, he took in for the first time that the room was clearly designed for the purpose - the floor was sprung, and against the rear wall was a stand that held variations of the same wooden weapons Axel and Reno had been using, of all shapes and sizes. In a latched glass cabinet to its left were what appeared to be their real counterparts, and the ceiling was high enough to mean there was little chance of hitting it with an errant uncontrolled swing. The right wall was mirrored from floor to ceiling, and a long wooden bar was mounted at waist height in front of it. Roxas perched on the bench next to the still-glugging redhead, and Axel heaved another world-weary sigh.

"...So."

"So. Nice setup."

Axel cocked an eyebrow. "...yeah. Uh. Thanks. For bringing my bag back... wait, how did you know my ad- You looked in my journal, didn't you."

A blush crept up Roxas' neck, not quite reaching his cheek. "Yes, I'm sorry, just the inside cover. I just thought-"

Axel silenced him with a wave. "It's ok, I don't mind, there's nothing I wouldn't mind you reading in there anyway."

Roxas was temporarily stunned by that little revelation, until he realised Axel was staring at him, and had spoken. "Sorry? I zoned out for a second there."

"I said ask what you want to ask."

"Oh. Uh... Not quite sure where to start."

"What're you thinking right now?"

"His eyes are red." His guess was confirmed as the older boy chuckled at the statement. "I take it that was your Uncle Vinny. He doesn't really look like a Vinny."

"He most categorically is not a Vinny. That's Vincent. He's quiet, and apparently scary, but he's one the most reliable people you'll ever meet. And he already likes you - he actually spoke to you."

"Is he... training you?"

"Yes. He's been teaching me and Reno since we were about nine and eleven."

"Makes sense."

"Oh?"

"Well, I mean, you were really good at the club, that makes sense now."

"Ah. I was sort of holding back, didn't want to draw suspicion..."

"I can guess why. How often do you train?"

"Most every night." As he said this, Roxas let his eyes stray over Axel's arms next to him, to see they were covered in a myriad of bruises and cuts. One gash in particular seemed deep, but there was little bloodflow. Lifting his gaze to Axel's head, the older boy also had a noticeable cut on his forehead, and this one had been bleeding heavily - there was a steady trail of red down the side of Axel's face, sweeping down his chin and neck. Realising what the blond was looking at, Axel grabbed a towel from a small rack next to the bench and vigorously wiped his face, but the cut continued to trickle slowly.

"Why do you do it?" Roxas asked gently.

Axel grinned at him. "Ah, that question. At first, because it was the only thing Uncle Vincent knew how to do with us - he's lived a funny life, he might tell you about it sometime if you don't run off into the night after tonight. Our dad didn't really know about it, and then by the time he did find out, he was so impressed with how well we'd taken to it, he was happy for us to continue. At the start it was just, well, stamina and form training. We didn't actually start hitting each other for several years." He paused a second to think on something. "How did you know it was Vincent and not my dad?"

Roxas was confused, and he involuntarily looked at Axel's hair. "Well, you and Reno look like each other, but you don't look like him."

"HA! If you think my dad looks anything like either of us, you're barking up the wrong tree. Reno and me, we look the same, but we don't resemble anyone else in our family at all. God only knows what twisted genetics produced the both of us, but they did."

"Oh. So it was a lucky guess then."

"Guess so!" They both went silent for a moment, the pause slightly awkward, until Roxas broke it again.

"Hey, Axel?"

"Yeah?"

"What're those things?" He gestured towards the round weapons Axel had left behind in the middle of the floor.

"Oh, those stupid things. Yeah. I guess they're like chakrams or whatever, but I went through a weird goth phase when I was 14, and had to have spikes on EVERYTHING. Reno always thought it was cheating, but then he-" He stopped himself mid-sentence. Roxas frowned at him. "Yeah. Anyway. We use the wooden ones for training, and they're built to absorb most of the impact themselves, sort of like the chairs they use in pro-wrestling. Vincent made them - what that man can't do with weapons isn't worth knowing about, even woods."

Roxas glanced at the cabinet at the back of the room. "Do you have real ones?"

Axel stilled suddenly. "Yes. But I've never used them. The spikes are really, really sharp, Vincent says, and he has this rule... about never using a real weapon unless the situation demands it. Reno gets to have an exception to that rule 'cos his baby has an electric charge to it, so sometimes Uncle Vincent lets him train with it, so he doesn't electrocute himself should the need arise, but I've only ever had woods."

"Wow. I just... I'm not quite sure what to say about all this. It's so... I mean, the only thing I do when I go home is draw stuff and waste time on the internet."

Axel smirked at him. "I'm not going to go into the school and start killing off students, if that's your worry."

"Nononono! Nothing like that, wow. Just... Feel like I could be doing something more productive, now."

"...are you saying you want to train too?"

Roxas paused for a long time, but Axel could see he was mulling it over, and gave him the time to think. He took another swig from the bottle of water, before Roxas finally spoke. "Is it weird that I do?

"No. It's kinda cool, actually. I guess I was worried that you would think it was weird - I mean, I met you  _yesterday_."

"Actually, I was worried you'd think I was weird for turning up outside your house to give you your bag back, like some kind of creeper."

"Pfft, nah, it's cool. I'd have done the same thing, I think. Tell ya what, lemme have a quick shower and I'll get you a soda. Hold on here a minute." With that, Axel walked towards the rear left corner of the room, where there was a small door. Within moments, Roxas heard the sound of a shower running, and steam began to drift through the top of the doorway. Bored, he looked around the room, but the only two objects in the room were the rack of wooden weapons and the cabinet with the real ones. He stood in front of the cabinet and looked at the weapons inside.

There were weapons of all shapes and sizes - halbards, plain-looking rods, rapiers, even an enormous broadsword was tucked neatly at the very back, behind the others. At one end, Axel's untouched chakrams gleamed, and Roxas examined them more closely. They were silver, circular in shape with black and red lines etched in an intricate design on to the spikes that ran throughout the outer edge. Roxas noted that despite Axel's claims that he had never so much as picked them up, they were completely dust-free, meaning they were still cared for. They were odd, a reflection of Axel himself, but not the most unusual object Roxas could see in the cabinet.

Nearly completely hidden in a line behind the other standing swords, one weapon almost called to Roxas with its strangeness. It was a thick long rod, about the same length as a standard sword, and had a hilt that seemed almost like a handle. At the business end the blunt blade extended, almost like it had a huge lump sticking off of it. It had a peculiar shape, but as it was facing backwards towards the rear of the cabinet, Roxas couldn't make out what it was. He was staring at it, fascinated, and didn't notice Axel approach until the older boy spoke.

"They're awesome, aren't they."

Roxas startled, then nodded in agreement.

Axel continued, "Uncle Vincent made every single one. I'm not quite sure how, or where - never seen him working on one, but I know they're his handiwork." He gravitated slowly as he spoke towards the chakrams propped up at the opposite end of the cabinet. Roxas studied his expression, and was sad to see it was wistful, almost forlorn.

"Have you ever even..."

"Touched them? No. I've been staring at them every night for three years. Vincent cleans them twice a week, and I'm always asking him if I can just  _hold_  them, but he won't let me." He shook his head, and seemed to let the matter rest. "Anyway. Quick soda? Sorry I can't ask you to stay all evening, but I have work to do for Reno - he's crap with paperwork and he's still got to complete some stuff for college."

Roxas nodded softly. "It's fine. I should be going anyways. I'll... take a rain check on the soda. See you tomorrow?"

Axel nodded, and walked Roxas up the stairs and towards the front door. Roxas grinned a boyish grin, and waved cheerfully as he left. Axel called out after him. "Hey, Rox! Thanks for my bag, again!" As soon as the blond reached the bottom of the driveway, Axel shut the door, and leaned against it. "You can come out now, you paranoid old git."

Vincent appeared from the shadows to his left, a smirk on his usually-impassable features. "So I take it I now have three adolescent students?"

Axel's eyes widened. "How did you-"

"Reading people is a gift of mine, Axel, you know that. His face said it all when he opened the door. And he clearly has an interest in you - who else do you know that would go to all the trouble to return a lost item for someone they met yesterday?"

Axel blushed under Vincent's good-natured taunt. "You're not mad?"

Vincent smiled at his nephew, warmth radiating. "No. We all need some sort of grounding. Reno has that moody idiot, I had..." He stopped, and Axel waited, understanding the train of thought Vincent was on. "We  _need_  something, or someone to keep us sane. Just as a thought - did you tell him...?"

Axel blustered an immediate response to the unspoken question. "God, no, fuck. I'm not stupid, Vincent. Fuck."

"The time might come when you don't have a choice, Axel."

"...I know. I sort of hope it doesn't come to that."

"You were always so serious, child." At that, Axel bristled, and Vincent held up a calming hand, continuing on. "Don't misunderstand me. I don't mean because the situation necessitates it - I mean because you will need to to be completely open."

Axel gave a noise that was quite like a snort. "Seriously, Uncle Vincent. I know him two days. He could run for the hills in the morning, quit talking like he's about to get surgically attached to my hip." It was Vincent's turn to laugh.

"Alright, fair point. Just... don't think there's no-one out there you can trust in the world."

"I know. Thanks, Uncle Vincent." The dark-haired man nodded, and retreated upstairs. Axel leaned back harder against the front door and slid down to the ground.

"...well that was unexpected."


	5. Chapter 4 - In Which Shoe Taste is Questioned

Roxas practically ran all the way home, unable to comprehend what had just happened. When he arrived, he raced into the kitchen, waved a quick hello to his mother and told her briefly that he'd had a good time at the club and that he'd be going again, that he'd eaten, and that he was going to his room to draw. She listened to it all with the understanding of a mother of two unbelievably overactive children, and smiled after him when he picked up a carton of juice and whirled out of the kitchen again, followed shortly by the clomping sounds of him going upstairs.

When he got there, he saw that his VoIP program had a missed call - his brother had tried to call him. Sora lived with their father moving all around the world, following their father's line of work - he was a naturalist, studying the disappearing habitats of big cats. However, his nightly phone call to Sora was sacrosanct, unless Sora was airborne between locations. Taking a moment to ditch his bag, he kicked his shoes off and under his bed, poured himself a glass of juice from the carton, and settled in front of his desk, immediately calling Sora. He noted with approval that the missed call was only a few minutes previously. After a moment, the call stopped ringing, and Sora's enormous head of spiky brown hair filled the screen.

"Hey Rox! How are ya?"

"I'm fine, thanks. Just got back from that martial arts club at school."

"The one that your lab partner's been trying to get you to go to for ages?"

"Yeah, that's the one."

"Wow, it runs late. Did you have fun?"

"Yeah. I did, actually. I went 'cos the new guy at the school seemed interested, and I'm responsible for him this week, so I thought I'd go along to introduce him to everyone. It doesn't run that late, really, we went for food afterwards."

"Two Tiana's in two nights?"

"How did you know?"

"Roxas, you're nothing if not predictable. Oh, and it's the nicest food."

"That's true."

"So did the new kid like it?"

"...yeah, he did. He said he'd done a little bit, but it turns out he's some kind of hardcore Fight Club dude, he's got a gym in his house, it's pretty awesome, he's got loads of these cool wooden weapons, and..." Roxas mentally bit his lip, realising he was oversharing. "Uh, well, y'know..."

"When did he start?"

"When he was nine, I think."

"No, Roxas, I meant when did he start school. He started fighting people when he was nine?"

"Nonononono he started training when he was nine. He started school yesterday." There was silence from the other end.

Sora looked distinctly unimpressed. "...you met him yesterday. And you've been in his house already." Roxas blushed, and tried to answer, but Sora cut him off. "At goddamned LAST. I was beginning to think you were a eunuch, Rox."

Roxas reddened at the tone. "Sora, you need help."

"Is he hot?"

"Sora, I know him TWO days-"

"That's not what I asked. Is he hot?"

Roxas sighed, and shook his head. His brother was relentless, and would not give up until Roxas was ready to kill him. "Yes, yes he really is."

"Does your cockblock friend know?"

"Hayner? I think he had the word 'rapist' in his head from the instant he saw him, but I told him to get a grip."

"Rox... do you like him?"

"Ok, Sora, in that regard, I really do only know him two days, ok? Two days. TWO. He definitely ticks boxes I didn't know I had, but I have no idea if that actually means anything at this stage, ok?"

"Ha, Roxas, we're sixteen. NOTHING means anything at this age."

"You sound like Dad."

"That's 'cos that's a Dad Classic. Listen, Rox, I can't stay on 'cos I've got a daaaate."

"With WHO? You're on a deserted island in the middle of nowhere, Sora, how the hell did you find someone to spend more than ten minutes with who speaks English?"

"With my Sora maaaaaagic. Anyway, I want a photo of this rapist cage fighter before the week's out, k? See ya, Rox."

"He's not a- bye dude." Roxas signed off at that, and took his phone out of his pocket, to discover there were no less than eleven missed calls, all of them from Hayner. Groaning, he hit the call back button. Hayner answered on the first ring.

"Roxas where WERE you, I've been calling you all eve-"

"Hayner, chill, I was at the martial arts club, I told you earlier, remember?"

"That thing finished hours ago, I know 'cos I went to pick you up to go watch a movie at Naminé's, and you weren't there. That weirdo you do physics with said you left with the new kid, I was worried."

"Good god, you worry too much. I was getting something to EAT, Hayner, that's it, 'cos I knew I'd've missed dinner at home."

"Oh."

"Yeah, oh."

"Did you eat alone?"

"No, I had food with Axel, he was hungry too. In fact, he just asked if I wanted to go get a drink, and I upped the ante to food, so don't get your knickers in a twist. He's a nice guy, he doesn't need your overprotectiveness on his ass."

Hayner was silent for a moment, before he finally relented. "Ok, Rox, I'm sorry. I guess 'cos you've not really been interested in anyone ever, and now you look like someone's got a vice on your sack every time this guy walks past."

"I DO NOT - do I really?"

Hayner chuckled down the phone at him. "No, not quite like that, but it is a little bit obvious." There was the sound of a deep breath being drawn on the other end of the phone. "If it helps, after he walked off at lunch today, Pence saw him in the toilet splashing water on his face. I bet he likes you, too."

"Well this is creepy, you've gone from being a cockblock to a matchmaker. Do you need a theme song? MAAATCH maker match maker make me a match..."

"Oh god, Roxas, shut up already. I said I was sorry, I'm not lying, just giving you the facts." Hayner sounded grumpy, so Roxas controlled his laughter, pleased that the awkwardness was in the past, but Hayner wanted to query him further. "DO you like him, Rox?"

"To be honest, Hayner, I have no idea. Sora just asked me the same thing, and I don't know. He's really good looking, and he's funny, and kinda cool, but he's got a pretty strange life, and I don't know if I can handle it. But for now... I guess I'm definitely attracted to him, so, yeah." He heard Hayner sigh at the other end.

"Man, Naminé is going to be obnoxious."

Roxas barked a laugh at that. "Yes, yes she is. Oh well."

* * *

The next day came with a strange sense of unease. Roxas woke suddenly and painfully, feverishly hot and still in the final throes of an horrific dream involving running from dark things. As long as he could remember, this nightmare had plagued him, but there were some rare occasions when his dream counterpart would find a room of light and escape the all-encompassing darkness, but this morning's was not to be - instead, his dream self (who always seemed oddly lucid, like he was aware he was dreaming) found himself surrounded by twenty-foot tall walls of flame, and the darkness just beyond. Shaking off the last tendrils of sleep, Roxas hurled himself out of bed and staggered to the bathroom, peeling his sweat-soaked pyjamas from his thin frame and dumping them unceremoniously in the laundry basket. He ran the shower cold, and stood underneath its relentless icy stream until he'd cooled down enough to be satisfied he wasn't actually ill.

* * *

When he got to school, he headed straight for his locker to drop his books off before heading down to gym class, but found a note there waiting for him inside his locker, rumpled from being shoved through the vents.

_After school. First lesson. Meet out front. I'm driving. Take out on the way?_

Clutching the note tightly in his hand, Roxas grinned and slammed the locker closed behind him as he ran off to the gym, where Leon was waiting to begin their class.

* * *

The rest of the day couldn't have gone any slower for Roxas. Every class stretched time until he felt it was going backwards, and both Pence and Olette commented that he seemed agitated, even when he'd made a special effort to relax and tell them about how the previous night had gone (ending it immediately after Tiana's, at which point Pence became offended that he'd dared to eat at Tiana's without him, and the whole group descended into helpless laughter). The worst was the last three sessions after lunch, which were usually Roxas' weekly highlight - art. Their teacher was discussing their Christmas assignment with each of them in turn, and as Roxas had chatted to her about it last week, he essentially had the last three hours to himself, free reign to do as he wished.

For the first hour he doodled idly, clock watching, until he realised he'd been drawing exclusively with a red marker. The implication amused him, and so he laughed and began to concentrate on what he was doing. When the final bell rang, he held his sketchbook out at arms length, and, pleased with what he'd achieved, shoved his open sketchbook into his bag, and raced out of the door.

Chest heaving in anticipation, finally got to the outside of the building, and scanned the path to the car park, with no success. He almost became despondent, but then felt a distinct heat from behind him. Axel had come up right behind his back, so they were only millimetres apart, and he craned his tall head over Roxas' shoulders to whisper next to his ear. "Boo." Roxas froze instantly, unable to speak. "Did I scare you?" His breath was hot and mere inches from Roxas' ears, which turned pink. Finally, Roxas found his voice.

"Yes."

Axel pulled away sharply, not expecting that response, and Roxas spun around and grinned at him.

"HA! Muppet. You ready to go?"

"Yeah. Who are you calling a muppet? I had last period free. My car's at the other end of the car park."

Roxas tried to remember the other three cars that weren't Reno's that he had seen at the house last night, but the other three black cars had made no impact on him. When Axel finally stopped at a car and hopped in over the door into the driver's seat, Roxas realised he hadn't seen it anyway.

Axel had taken a comfortable leap into the driver's side of an electric blue Lotus Elise. It was beautiful, and though the license plate put it at about six years old, it was in immaculate condition, like it was very well cared for. Roxas didn't actually realise he was outright STARING at the car until Axel called out sarcastically,

"Get in, loser, we're going shopping."

"Did you just quote-"

"Yes, yes I did, now pick your jaw up off the floor and get in the car before someone thinks I'm trying to groom you."

Roxas hurried into the passenger seat, laid his bag in the space behind the car, and they reversed out the car park.

The traffic was terrible, which afforded Roxas the time to ask the question he'd been dying to ask all day.

"Just how rich are you!"

Axel threw back his head and laughed a loud, throaty laugh. "We're not. Uncle Vincent is. My dad runs a charity now that raises awareness of the importance of antenatal care, he hasn't got an income, but Uncle Vincent doesn't mind. He's never told us how he makes his money, but Reno and I are convinced he was a mercenary in a past life. Reno thinks he still is, but I know he spends way too much time mooching in his room reading the lamest romance novels you will EVER read to have time to go gallivanting with heads of state, but you never know. Before you ask, by the way, I didn't ask for this car, would you believe I won it when I was eleven? One of those stupid charity lotteries they have for super cars in airports, I had my choice of car and I chose this one. Reno was livid 'cos this car isn't expensive at all, and I could have had an Aston Martin DB9, which costs like five times as much, but that thing was just too big for me. This one was nice. And four of the other cars were red, and I just would have either clashed or co-ordinated, and I'm not sure which would have been worse. I do love this baby though, she's just the sexiest thing on the planet."

Roxas blushed at that, and stroked the leather on the passenger side of the dashboard. It felt warm to the touch, and comforting. He was so absorbed in examining the various nooks and crannies of the car that he didn't even notice that Axel had pulled up the car and parked it. They both exited the car, and it was then Roxas saw they weren't anywhere near Axel's home, they were instead on the main street.

"What are we here for?"

"I DID say we're going shopping. Need to get you some kit, Uncle Vincent's orders. You'll need to keep an open mind."

* * *

An hour later, Axel and Roxas pulled into Axel's driveway and into the garage. Roxas noted there while the other cars had been parked outside, Axel's was the only car in the garage, along with multiple motorbikes, one of which was bulky, long and black. It stood out not only for its shape, but also for the fact that it was the only bike in the garage that was not covered with a protective sheet. After grabbing the impressive number of bags they had amassed for less than an hour's shopping, Roxas followed Axel into the kitchen, where the older boy fixed them both with some orange juice and a plate of cookies, and they chatted amiably for several minutes before Roxas heard a car pull up, the front door open, and the kitchen door burst open. Reno noisily entered the room, waved to Roxas and Axel and called behind him,

"Oh look! The mini-you is here, dude! You want a soda or what?"

Roxas narrowed his eyes in confusion, before Reno's companion appeared in the kitchen, and Roxas had to do a double take, and immediately felt like he was staring at a vision of his future self.

The man was half a head taller than Roxas, with shining blue eyes and a bemused expression, topped with a set of comically large iridescent blond spikes. Clearly at least another year older than Reno, he had broad shoulders, and, despite the fact that he was wearing a heavy jacket over a tee-shirt, Roxas could see he was obviously very well built underneath. He smiled briefly at Roxas, and said,

"Heh, I can see what you meant. Nice to meet you, I'm Cloud." He stuck his hand out and shook Roxas' hand. "I'm gonna have to change my style if you're going to be around more often, kid."

"Ha! Nice to meet you too, Cloud. I'm Roxas."

"Reno tells me you're gonna start training here soon. Good luck!" He sat next to Roxas, and Reno pulled Axel aside with a grin to tell him something in a hushed tone. Axel looked back terrified at him, and they began a frantic, under-the-breath conversation, full of waving gestures. Cloud chuckled wearily, and Roxas took the opportunity to be polite and sociable.

"Are they always like that?"

"Yeah. Axel's a bit more serious usually, but Reno's mission in life seems to be to tease his little brother for as much of the day as possible."

"I can understand that, my older brother's the same sometimes."

"Heh."

"Do... uh, do you train here too?" Roxas asked.

Cloud gave him a thoughtful look. "No. At least, not formally. I've known their uncle since I was a kid, so I do fall into the whole world of it, and if I'm here with Reno for a few days then I'll probably spar a little with them. 'S not the fairest, though, 'cos I'm naturally much stronger than either of them, although Axel gives me a really good run for my money. Reno's a wiley bastard though, he might not beat me but you'll never catch him, he's really elusive."

"Are you... dating Reno?"

Cloud laughed at Roxas' question, and a tiny element of pink crept into his cheeks. "Yeah, for about six months now, but I've known and liked him for years and years. Had to wait for him to get through the 'I like girls' phase, which lasted longer than I thought. I don't think he's that picky any more, thankfully." Their conversation was ended abruptly by a shout from Axel.

"GOD Reno, get your mind out of the gutter, for once in your life." Reno was grinning like a cheshire cat, a look that made Roxas shiver for an unknown reason. Axel was glaring at him, but softened and turned to Roxas after a moment. "Roxas. You ready to get started?"

"Shouldn't we wait for..."

"Oh, he's down there already."

"How did you know?" As soon as the words left Roxas' mouth, Reno flashed a quick warning glance at Axel, a look which did not go unnoticed by Roxas. Axel's expression did not change however, when he answered.

"'Cos he knows you're coming, dummy. He knows what time school gets out, and he knew I was getting some stuff for you." He said this very smoothly, but after Reno's glance, Roxas got the sense he was missing something, but he schooled his reaction so they wouldn't think him suspicious.

"Right, cool. I'm ready, I think."

"Good. Let's roll. See ya." He waved at Reno and Cloud, who gave a patronising wave at Roxas, which he laughed at and returned in kind, then followed Axel out of the room. They made their way directly to the lower room beneath the staircase, the corridor to the training room, not seeming as long or intimidating during daylight hours. The door was open, and, as Axel had said, his raven-haired uncle was indeed inside, pottering about patiently, dusting inside the cabinet. Axel nodded in his direction, and took off for the shower-room. Roxas swallowed nervously and approached the older man.

"Hello." Vincent's voice was soft, deep and full of authority. It was the kind of voice that Roxas hoped never to hear raised.

"Hi."

"As you will know doubt know, my name is Vincent Valentine. Axel has informed me you wish me to train you in some manner of fighting arts. My nephew rarely asks favours, and your concern for him when you believed his was in danger and only knew him two days speaks volumes about your character, so I am happy to acquiesce to his request. I will train you with one weapon only, and although you may have some choice over the weapon, ultimately, the weapon chooses its wielder and you must choose the one that is right for you. Is that clear?"

Roxas nodded vehemently. "Yes sir."

"Oh goodness, please do not 'sir' me, it makes me feel old. I'm old-fashioned, not a crone. Are there any weapons that particularly take your fancy?" Roxas examined each weapon in turn, but none were more desirous to him than any other. He mulled over the choice, afraid to answer, but eventually he plucked up the courage to voice it.

"Not particularly." He was worried about Vincent's response, but the older man nodded.

"Good. It is best to learn the basics before one impatiently strives for a particular goal. Please, go get yourself changed."

Roxas nodded a thanks, and took off to the changing room. He was surprised to see that the room was a large-ish wet room, with two showers at one end and a long bench and a hanging rail at the other. Axel's clothes were already on the rack, and he was tying his shoelaces. Roxas took one look at the shoes in question, and an unintended guffaw escaped his lips.

"You weren't kidding. I honestly thought you were winding me up."

Axel reached below his chair and fished a box from a bag there. He tossed the box to Roxas, who caught it awkwardly. He cracked a grin at the blond. "Nope, you think I'd have dropped seventy munny on a joke?"

"SEVENTY MUNNY!" Roxas flustered, but Axel waved dismissively at him.

"Sssh. Just get 'em on, twinkletoes." The redhead stood and left the room, and Roxas changed very quickly, opened the box and just stared at the contents.

"What am I doing?" he asked, but the pink ballet shoes did not reply.


	6. Chapter 5 - In Which Answers Aren't Sappy

"Before you learn to fight, you must learn form. Luckily for us, someone very clever thought of a structured way to do so hundreds of years ago. Roxas, this is first position." Vincent demonstrated, and Roxas, still not quite feeling that the situation was anthing but surreal, tried to follow suit. He thought he heard Axel giggle, but the redhead's face was utterly impassive. Vincent affixed a patient look to his features and said, "Good, but the angle really needs to be much, much flatter than that."

Obediently, Roxas moved his feet until they met a passable version of what Vincent was showing him. Axel giggled again, and Vincent shot him with a withering stare, and said,

"Oh do be quiet. Did you have to get pink ones, by the way?" Unlike Roxas, whose feet were clad in baby pink ballet shoes, Axel's were black; Vincent's a soft gold. The leather on both was well worn.

Axel sniggered. "Nope. Just thought it would suit."

"Hmph. You could try to take this seriously, Axel, you're becoming more like your brother every day. Do you not remember how anxious you were when you began?"

Axel nodded at the accusation, and relented. "Sorry Rox."

"Meh, it's ok. They're... surprisingly comfortable." Roxas wasn't lying - the leather was soft and warm, and the band across the cuneiform bones held the shoes on snugly. When Axel had asked him his shoe size earlier before dipping briefly into a shoe shop, Roxas had asked him what for, and Axel had replied 'ballet shoes'. Roxas had assumed it was a cryptic response, not the hilarious truth.

"I know right?" Axel made to say more, but Vincent cleared his throat to gain the attention of the room once more.

"That was first. This is second."

* * *

The lesson continued for another hour, until Roxas had a passing memory of which position was which, as well as a half-decent ability to plié, and then Vincent attempted to get him to do something a little beyond his experience, and comfort zone.

"Ok, I am assuming you haven't gotten to the age of sixteen without knowing what a pirouette is." Vincent smiled when Roxas paled. "Good. It is very simple - find a place on that wall, and focus on that spot. Then whip your head round and come back to that spot. I'm not expecting miracles, and I'll never force you to perform in front of people, but this is for your own benefit. Just give it a try."

"Ummmm..." Roxas noticed Axel had stood back to lean against the bar next to the mirror, out of the way. This didn't fill Roxas with confidence, but with a kind of slow creeping dread, he picked a spot on the wall, focused on that spot, spun... and toppled over. Immediately picking himself up, he looked to Vincent, whose face was devoid of reaction. Axel, however, was struggling not to laugh, his top lip covering his bottom lip. Roxas saw red.

"Oh yeah? Bet you fell over first time too!"

"Yup," Axel laughed, "And loads after the first. Which is why I'm allowed to laugh at you, because Reno was merciless to me."

"That," Roxas gestured aimlessly, clearly implicating the spin he had just failed, "is impossible. Only a four foot woman could achieve that."

Axel raised his eyebrows, and stepped out onto the floor, languidly fixing Roxas with a stare. Then he spun - once, twice, thrice... ten times. When he finished, he slowed gracefully to a stop, never removing his face from Roxas', grinning a grin that Roxas could only describe as smug.

"I'm a lot taller than four feet, and if I am a woman, then I'm depressed with this figure. You'll be able to do it." He paused. "You can put your eyes back in now."

Roxas dropped his eyes at the jibe, and as he scanned downwards, he  _noticed_  Axel's arms for the first time that day. As soon as he did, the back of his mind told him something was wrong, but he couldn't work out what it was. Vincent cut through his thoughts.

"Alright, showoff, you've had eight years for that. Roxas, you've done well for a first lesson. Very well, in fact. We'll pick this up Friday, I am busy tomorrow." He started in the direction of the main door. Roxas nodded, and felt a spike of rebellion rise in himself. He fixed Axel with the same defiant look the redhead had given him and concentrated... to pull off a perfect pirouette. Vincent whirled to see him finish, and looked curiously at him. "...Excellent beginning. It seems determination is a trait you both share, that was a little like déjá-vu. See you Friday, Roxas."

"See you. And, uh, thanks."

"My pleasure." Vincent sauntered out of the room after checking the cabinet was locked, and the door shut behind him. As soon as he finished, Roxas turned again to Axel.

"I have questions."

The redhead laughed, and made his way to the bench, picking up a bottle of water and downing it in one go. He hadn't broken a sweat, but Roxas was beginning to notice that the taller boy never went very long with drinking what seemed to be an excessive amount of water. "Shoot." He indicated the bench next to him. At the gestured invitation, Roxas joined him. He  _had_ broken a sweat, and so accepted the offered clean bottle readily.

As soon as he satisfied his thirst, the questions clamoured to be asked, and so he began. "Why didn't you tell me you weren't kidding about the ballet shoes?"

"Because you would have wanted to go home, and I know you wanted to do this. I'll tell you something for nothing, Roxas, Vincent must really like you. He's never EVER said  _I_ _'_ _m_  excellent. Actually, he never says anything about if I'm any good at all, just 'again', or 'more'. He tells Reno when he's doing well and not doing well, but not me!"

"He's NEVER told you how he thinks you're doing?" Roxas was incredulous, as Axel was blatantly, if not obscenely talented. He looked into Axel's eyes, and was stunned to see a peculiar kind of ache there, before the older boy shook his crimson locks.

"Nope. Well, I know he doesn't think I'm useless, because he's so hard on me, and he wouldn't do that if he didn't think I could take it, so there's that. And once, I got so irritated with him that I told him I was quitting, and he told me that I was meant for more than that. That's the closest he's ever gotten to anything. When I was 14, it was really hard, now I'm just used to it."

"Do you train every day?"

"Not with Uncle Vincent, no, but it would be a strange day where I didn't at least kick Reno's head in for a while. That said, he's gotten REALLY fast, and it's getting harder to hit him. Good thing he started bringing Cloud downstairs, otherwise I wouldn't get to hit anything, and I'm so used to it I think I'd start taking out doors and walls if I couldn't at least let off some steam."

"Cloud's... hard." At Roxas' statement, Axel laughed; a loud, clear sound that relaxed some of the tension in his shoulders.

"I have no idea what the hell his mother was sniffing when she was pregnant with him, but whatever it is, she must have stuffed his food with it when he was a kid, because he's stupid. I mean, he's a bit of a shortarse and all, but hard is a good word to describe him. He's good for Reno, because I think he intimidates him out of being so hyperactive. They've always been friends, but I think it just took a while for Reno to come out of his oblivious cloud and get down to real Cloud." They both laughed at the joke, and it took Roxas a moment to word his next question. As he did so, he looked awkwardly at Axel's sides, and noticed Axel's arms once again, and the peculiar twinge at the back of his consciousness pinged. However, his stomach growled and Axel laughed at him, breaking his concentration, and he smiled too. The redhead leaned in close to him. "...guess you've worked up an appetite. Come on, let's go see if there's anything upstairs." He was close - too close, and Roxas felt the hair on his arms rise with goosebumps, but then there was a creak and Axel had stood and was walking towards the shower room at the back. After a moment's hesitation, Roxas followed.

By the time he entered the shower room, Axel was already behind the little set of swing doors and under the shower head, humming to himself. Steam curled into the air, slowly filling the room. Roxas stripped and hopped into the other shower, the swing doors into the little half-cubicle squeaking loudly as he brushed past them. The shower was powerful, and the toiletries next to it expensive - Roxas took the shampoo and lathered it in his hands before setting it on his head, enjoying the luxuriant bubbles before thoroughly washing through his hand and rinsing. When he felt clean, he turned around the face Axel, to find the other standing in an exaggeratedly stoic pose, a long beard made of bubbles hanging from his skinny chin. Roxas collapsed into a fit of giggles, and the older boy grinned before letting the water overhead disintegrate his proud soapy facial accessory, and he switched the shower off and exited the swings doors and began to dress himself carefully so as not to drop the towel wrapped around his waist. Roxas followed suit, until they were both lacing shoes. Axel flung both towels in a linen basket, and grabbed Roxas' little gear bag, leading the blond out of the room, across the gym floor and up the stairs. Roxas followed suit, until they reached the kitchen, where Axel went digging into the fridge, grumbling all the while.

"Oh don't tell me Reno's eaten all of my- AHA! Excellent! Found it. Leftovers good for you, Rox? It's really good, chicken arrabiata." Receiving an encouraging nod in reply, he flung the remains of the pasta onto two plates and popped them in the microwave, and poured two glasses of lime cordial, placing them on the counter. The microwave beeped, and he took the contents out, passing one portion to Roxas before tucking into his own hungrily, an act Roxas repeated moments later. Several silent minutes passed while both boys greedily fed their starving bodies.

"Hey Axel?"

"Yeah?"

"Uhm... well, tomorrow is Thursday, and every Thursday we usually go around to Pence's for video game night. You game?"

"Roxas, I don't think I'd really be wel-"

"Gimme a break. They're my friends, you're my friend, it works just fine. I'll take that as a yes. It's awesome fun, we usually play fighting games 'cos it's Pence's system and he is obsessed with them - he's got like fifteen just for the current gen console. He lives in the Powell estate, just up the road from school. You up for it?" It was a question on the surface, but Roxas' tone implied he was not even entertaining the idea of refusal, so Axel nodded.

"Sure, sounds like fun. I do like fighting games anyway, so you guys can teach me a few techniques."

* * *

The next day Roxas awoke with aching legs. He'd endured a verbal assault from his brother after he'd returned home the previous evening, who clamoured for details of the session. Roxas had decided to tell only Sora about the training, feeling like he needed an outlet, but sensing Axel's need to keep it quiet. Sora had found the ballet shoes less funny than Roxas had assumed he would, and had instead taken the notion quite thoughtfully.

The morning went quickly, until eventually lunchtime came around. When he got to the cafeteria, however, Roxas was in for a surprise - Hayner and Naminé sat arm in arm in their usual seats next to Olette, and they were chatting happily to... Axel! Roxas hurriedly ordered his food and sat down next to the redhead, who greeted him with a light punch to the arm.

"Hey, blondie."

Roxas smiled at him, but while he fiddled with his bag and fussed with the tray, Roxas shot Hayner a questioning look.

The sandy-blond returned with a nonchalant expression, but with a hint of smugness. "Hey, Rox, I was just gonna invite Axel here to our game night tonight, but you got there first! It's gonna be a good night."

"Sounds like fun." Axel deadpanned. Roxas knew his tone was just his standard response, but Olette seemed to think he did not want to come.

"No seriously," she twittered, "It'll be fun! Naminé and I usually bake for it, and Pence's older brother sometimes gets us a few beers. Roxas and Hayner whine about the other cheating all evening, and everybody goes home happy. It's fun!"

Realising her interpretation of his earlier response, Axel gave a small grin, and said, "Heh. I said I was coming. I wouldn't if I didn't think I'd enjoy it. Besides, two invites can hardly be turned down."

"Good!" She beamed. "So how has your first week been?"

"Hmmm, not bad. It's quite different than my last school, that was way less pushy about academic stuff than here, but I like it here so far." Roxas realised that the floodgates were open for an interrogation, but Axel didn't seem to mind. Hayner began the third degree as Pence arrived and sat down, pulling out his own generously proportioned lunch.

"Where did you go to school before?"

"Midgar, then Radiant Garden. Moved here with my family to go to Twilight U, nothing more exciting than that, really. Already sent my application in, just waiting to hear back now."

"Have you got a big family, Axel?" Naminé piped up.

"Nah, not really. Got an older brother, my dad, and my uncle, that's it."

"You like Twilight Town?" At Naminé's question, Axel paused a moment to consider.

"Well, what I've seen of it. We only moved our stuff on Saturday, so I haven't really gone exploring. But damn, you have some fine eateries out here!" The group laughed, well aware he meant Tiana's. "That clock tower looks nice. Is it old?"

"Mmhmm." Roxas nodded. "One of the first things built in Twilight Town - that, and the railway. In fact, the railway station used to come to here just so people could climb Twilight Hill and see the view - you can see for miles around. The Town actually built up around it."

"Anything else that's fun to do in town?"

"Not much." Pence finally joined the conversation, his mouth half-full as he spoke. "I mean, there're the sewers which are a bit fun to explore when you're twelve, and there are a bunch of kids who go skateboarding out on Tram Common, but that's it, really. Oh, well, of course there's The Struggle, but only nutcases get involved in that!" Axel's eyes narrowed at this.

"The Struggle?"

Before any other negative comments came out, Roxas answered Axel's question almost before he'd finished the second word in the two-word enquiry. "The Struggle is a fighting tournament that is held in Twilight Town. You basically use these special outer-foam bats to knock the living daylights out of your opponent. There's a Summer Struggle and a Winter Struggle - Summer's outdoors and Winter's indoors. Started up about fifteen years ago and it's practically the social highlight of the year - the Winter one will be in four months time or so, the Summer one was only six weeks back. Everyone in town goes to watch, but the last few years the competitors have been... very tough."

"Very tough! A bunch of idiotic jarheads, you mean." Hayner's scorn was vehement, and Roxas flinched. "There are these two delinquents from Twilight Com that have owned it for the last few years, and even our  _amazing_  martial arts club can't do jack to them." His emphasis on the word 'amazing' showed he felt they were actually anything but. "Anyone who wants entry into that bat-beating contest needs mental adjustment." Roxas had been watching Axel the entire way through the explanation and Hayner's condemnation of The Struggle, observing the slow smile that started as a curl of the redhead's top lip, and grew to a devilish grin that implied serious intent.

"Indeed. There are a lot of trophies in your trophy cabinet thought...?"

"Yeah, course there are," Hayner spat, "because the dude in charge of the martial arts club is hardcore. They win lots of competitions, but none of them have ever gotten past the semi-final of The Struggle, 'cos Dumb and Dumber started entering the same year that Leon took over the club, it's almost getting boring by now."

"Hey, Roxas?" Pence called. "You just joined the martial arts club, right?"

The blond nodded. "Yeah, emphasis on 'just'! I don't think four months of hardcore training would let me get past the first round of The Struggle! You should talk to beefcake here," he noted Axel's eyes flash in a warning, but he carried on innocently, "he wasn't quite as hopeless as me, he did some stuff in his old school, so he could actually pick up the shinai thing without toppling over!" Relief spread across the taller boy's face, but he hid it rapidly as the group murmured excitedly.

"Well," Hayner grinned, "you're definitely taller than Seifer, and I bet there's only an inch or so between you and Setzer, don't know who's taller. Although if it came down to who has the most ridiculous taste in clothes, Setzer wins hands down. He dresses like a gogo dancer, but fights like he's in a prison riot - hard and dirty." His gaze turned conspiratorial, and when he spoke again, it was in a forced whisper. "I heard that the dude who got beaten by Seifer in the last tournament has only got one testicle now."

Axel loudly slurped the end of the cola he'd been drinking, breaking the tension and producing giggles from the two girls. Roxas gave a terse laugh and polished off the last of his food, as the conversation lightened into discussions about what games would feature on the evening's programme, before the bell went and the group dispersed.

As they filed out of the cafeteria, Roxas fell into step with Axel at the back of the small group. "You're going to enter, aren't you." It wasn't really a question, but Axel answered the younger boy anyway.

"But of course!" He laughed. "Sounds like those two guys need a dressing down, and I got no issue with that. Is there an age limit? That thing about the dude's balls true?"

"Under twenties, and no idea. Wouldn't put it past Hayner to exaggerate, but wouldn't put it past Seifer to do it either. He's a nasty piece of work, the kind of person to randomly pick fights with smaller kids just for kicks."

"All the more important. What do you have this afternoon?"

"Double art then free period."

"Oh, lucky. I got Math then History then... I don't know what I have last, actually. What time do you go to game night?"

"Oh! Yeah, ok. Usually around six - enough time to do any homework and then change if you wanted, so we can play until late. Pence's house is near Station Heights. Do you know where Wantz' shop is?"

Axel nodded, and so Roxas continued.

"Ok. Meet me there at six, and we can go together."

"Yes ma'am." Receiving a mock punch in response, Axel mock-yelped, waved a quick goodbye and took off in the direction of his Math class. Roxas sighed, and walked towards the Art room.

* * *

Two hours flew by, and Roxas was totally absorbed in the work he was doing, and so did not notice either the bell ringing, or the classroom emptying, and certainly not the figure standing behind him, until a voice jolted him so hard he splattered paint on the canvas in the complete wrong place.

"Should I be flattered or creeped out?" Axel was standing six inches behind him, his head leaning over the blond's shoulders. The painting was blurred, with bold, clashing colours giving a rough outline of a face, but the colour of the hair which Roxas had spent almost the entire double period painstakingly depicting left no ambiguity as to the identity of the subject. Unfortunately, while the artistry was in no question, Axel's portrait was now sporting a small tyrian splodge underneath its left eye. "Not sure about the black eye, though - planning on punching me out, Rox?"

"No." Roxas brusquely deposited his brush in a murky jar of what was once water, and picked up a tiny sponge, attempting to lift the purple paint from the upper cheekbone on the portrait, but it merely spread around. He took a deep breath, before twisting around to glare at the older boy. "Thanks for that, I was just getting somewhere with this."

"Rox, why are you painting me?"

"Do you want the honest answer or the sappy answer?"

"Honest answer. Then maybe the sappy answer."

"The honest answer is because your hair means I get to use a really bright palette, and the sappy answer doesn't actually exist." He didn't lose his temper, and held Axel's gaze steadily. "What are you doing here anyway?"

Axel shifted on the spot before answering, as Roxas busied himself cleaning brushes before setting the canvas aside, and then washing his own hands thoroughly as they were covered with splotches of paint, marking where he'd tested the colours against the skin on the back of his hands in a manner similar to a lady testing makeup shades at a department store. "Nothing much, was passing by the window and I looked in and saw my own head and did a double take."

"...Actually, I guess that is kinda creepy. Should I have asked first? I mean, I'm telling the truth, it really was just because it struck me that I could use a really, really bright palette."

"I don't mind. It's... it's good, Rox. I mean, seriously good." Axel leaned closely to the painting, examining it closely. "Actually, the more I look at the purple bit, the more i like it." He winked at Roxas, who bristled playfully.

"Yeah yeah, I'll fix it later. Don't you have class now?"

"Nope! Same as you, free period. Not gonna hang about with you though, I really was just stopping by 'cos I saw you painting, I'm gonna go home and help Reno unpack his stuff - he still has more than half of his stuff to go, and I want to make a start before Cloud turns up and suddenly I can't go into Reno's room." He pursed his lips after the last statement, and Roxas grinned at him.

"Ok, well, see you at six?"

"Yeah, see ya."

* * *

The evening was chilly, unusually chilly for the season, and Roxas found himself thankful he'd gone home first, as his mother had kissed him goodbye and shoved a jacket into his protesting arms as he'd walked out the door. As always, she was not wrong. He stood outside the closing shop, idly rubbing his arms as a futile exercise against the cold. Six o'clock came and went, then five past, and ten past. He was beginning to think Axel had let him down, but a warm breeze blew past and he decided to give it a few minutes longer instead. Thankfully, a minute or so later, the redhead appeared into sight walking up the hill. When he got close, Roxas waved, and Axel immediately voiced an apology.

"Sorry I'm a little late," he breathed, "I had to make a quick run to the furniture store - Reno dropped his wardrobe backing mid-assembly and broke the back so badly it couldn't be repaired, so we had to go get a new one. Every day it's something new, he's going to be sectioned soon I'm sure." He rolled his eyes, drawing a grin from Roxas.

"Hehe, that's ok. Pence's place is just a minute down here." Roxas led Axel down a small alleyway, which opened out into a small, quiet residential street, lined with tall, neat townhouses. Eventually, Roxas turned into one of the houses, and knocked on the front door, to have it answered almost immediately by an energetic Pence.

The pudgy boy grinned at Roxas, but when he saw Axel over his shoulder, he beamed at the taller boy, who hung a few steps back out of politeness. "Guys! Thought you were gonna skip out, but you made it. Rox, in you go. I'm gonna show Ax around so he doesn't have to ask where to pee." Roxas turned and grinned at Axel, mouthing 'Ax' at him. The older boy ignored him pointedly and followed Pence on his whistlestop tour of his house, finally joining the rest of the troupe in the basement. The décor was purposely shabby, in sharp contrast to the rest of Pence's immaculate home. An ancient sofa squatted in the middle of the floor, which was covered in at least several dozen carpets of vaguely Agrabahan origin, which had been arranged over a rim of cushions to provide some rough seating on the floor. A coffee table that was missing the glass inset was at the far corner of the room, and was covered in drinks and snacks, and presided over by a majestic-looking cake and accompanying matching cupcakes, the clear results of the baking session Olette and Naminé had hinted at earlier. The two girls in question were gossiping just inside the door, and they waved at Axel as he came into the room. Roxas and Hayner were seated on the sofa, controllers in hand, already absorbed in a fighting game Axel recognised very well. The television stood out in the room - it was a massive flatscreen, sitting in an array that also housed several games consoles, in stark contrast to the shabby chic of the rest of the surroundings. Axel grabbed a drink at Pence's gesture (no beer, despite Olette's earlier declaration), and perched on Roxas' arm of the battered sofa, which was softer than he was expecting.

Axel observed quietly as Roxas and Hayner fought, noting the good-humoured teasing banter between the two, the well-constructed insults from Pence that had the two girls in fits of laughter and the order of play - although Pence took a few turns, it was mostly an ongoing match between Hayner and Roxas, who were rather evenly matched. Eventually, Axel laughed at loud at a particularly amusing joke from Pence, and Roxas looked up questioningly at him.

"Want a go?" As he said this, he shoved his controller into Axel's hand, and moved out of the way. Axel thought about protesting, but then Roxas shoved him so he toppled off the arm of the sofa and onto the seat, and he was left with no choice.

"I suppose I do."

"Your ass is mine, new boy." Hayner snickered next to him. "Roxas and me are like the best - good luck though!" His last phrase was dripping with sarcasm, and Axel merely nodded politely, but Roxas caught the telltale edge of a smirk out of Hayner's line of sight.

* * *

"That should be illegal."

"Well, it's not."

"Well it should be."

"Oh, a little sore are we? I thought my ass was yours?"

"Well that was before I realised you have a fricking arcade machine in your ROOM."

"It's not in my room, it's in the den, and I'd have told you if you'd asked..."

"Alright, alright, I give in. But it is SO on next Thursday, Ax." Hayner punctuated the statement by punching Axel lightly in the upper arm, and although Axel feigned a protest, Roxas could _feel_  the glee emanating from the fiery youth. After that, the little night broke up, and Axel and Roxas walked outside together with Hayner, after bidding Pence a good night. As the three walked back down the hill towards Tram Common, they chatted amicably about the evening, which was mostly Roxas walking behind Hayner and Axel discussing tactics, where Hayner tried desperately to flatter Axel into teasing out some of his strategies, and Axel pretended not to notice that was what he was doing. Eventually, they bid Hayner goodbye, and then it was Roxas' turn to go.

"Did you enjoy it?"

"Yeah," Axel snorted, "Although Hayner really needs to learn to look before he leaps."

"You're telling me! It was nice seeing someone teach him a lesson though."

"See you tomorrow?"

"Yeah. Bring your stuff to school, too."

"Oh? Oh! Yes, it's Friday. Sure, no problem. See you tomorrow."

"Night Rox."

"Night Axel."


	7. Chapter 6 - In Which Trees are Abused

_One Week Later_

_"_ _The_ _time_ _has_ _come_ _for_ _you_ _to_ _choose_ _a_ _weapon_ _to_ _begin_ _to_ _learn_ _to_ _use._ _"_  Vincent's parting words from the previous day's session echoed in Roxas' head as he walked up Axel's driveway. He was so terrified he could feel his heart beating in his chest so strongly that it hurt. As he neared the door, it swung backwards, and a man he had never seen before yanked it open.

"Roxas!" The man was short (although still taller than Roxas), slightly rotund and with twinkling brown eyes. Although his manner was friendly, Roxas could tell by his greying hair and heavily sagging eyelids that he was world-weary. This could only be Axel and Reno's father. "Pleased to finally meet you. I'm O'aka, Axel's father. I'm sorry I haven't been around to meet you before now. Axel has told me a great deal about you." He shook Roxas' hand energetically, and all but hauled the youth into the house, ushering him towards the door behind the stairs. "Come, come, everyone is waiting for you downstairs." He kept silent as they descended the stairs, but just before they got to the closed gym room door, he stopped and turned to face Roxas, catching his eye contact.

"Roxas, I want to thank you. Reno told me all about you and your friends bringing Axel into your group, and Axel has been happier since we moved here than he has in years. I am glad you've started this with him," he said, indicating the door, "he needs someone to share this part of his life. Anyway! Today is an important day! Watch your step inside." He opened the door.

"Huh? Oh!" The scene inside was not what Roxas was expecting. The weapons were not in the cabinet; rather, they were laid out in rows on the floor. Vincent was standing in the middle of the floor and Axel, Reno and Cloud were on the bench. O'aka st down next to them.

"Roxas, come here." Vincent beckoned. Obediently, Roxas crossed the floor to him. "What you see before you is every weapon I can train you in. What I would like you to do is walk among them, examine them, but please, do not touch any until you know which one you wish to wield. Take as much time as you need, but please, do not look ot anyone for assistance. Ideally, you would make this choice alone," he said with a sideways glance at the bench, whose occupants feigned ignorance, "but I could not stop the voyeurs from being here." Roxas smiled, and felt comforted, knowing that the other four on the bench were as excited about his choosing a weapon as he was. "When you have made your decision, bring it here." He stood back, and gave Roxas the floor.

Where to begin? There were five long rows, and Roxas decided to approach the task methodically, starting at the bottom of the left-most row. He moved slowly, bending to take a closer look at a particular weapon every so often, but tried to keep in mind Vincent's 'don't touch' advice. The craftsmanship in each weapon was plain to see, some of them were quite beautiful. He passed Axel's chakrams and feigned interest, drawing a laugh from Reno and then a series of hushed 'sssssh!'s from O'aka. He walked up one row, down the next, up the third... until halfway down the fourth row he stopped short. It was the strange weapon he'd seen on the first day, but out on the floor it was even stranger. As he had suspected, the hilt was not so much a hilt as a handle, and the blade jutting out was nothing of the sort - it was cylindrical and very, very thick. The irregular lump at the business end happened to be in the shape of a dumpy crown, and overall, the entire daftly-shaped weapon resembled a key. It was the most stupid thing Roxas had ever seen, and before he realised what he was doing, he reached down and picked it up, forgetting Vincent's earlier warning about touching.

Immediately, he knew it was perfect. It was so beautifully balanced, and the metal felt warm to his touch. It felt like it weighed little to nothing. The hilt was comfortable, natural. He gave it a perfunctory swing, and the movement was smooth; the momentum exactly as he wanted it to be. He looked up to see Vincent grinning over him, and he dropped the weapon to his side, embarrassed.

"Is that your choice?"

"I... uh..." Was it? Was this the one weapon he wanted? "What's it called? It's... really strange looking."

"It's called a keyblade. It's... one of the most unusual weapons available; wielded by very few. I once met someone who backhanded it."

"It looks  _really_  stupid."

"...yes. But if it feels right..." It  **did**  feel right. "Is it your choice?"

"Yes."

A cheer rose up from the bench, and Axel and Reno raced to Roxas, each of them throwing themselves at him and patting him on the head in a congratulatory fashion, until eventually someone's legs gave way and they ended up in a heap on the floor. Axel was beaming, and behind them, Cloud and O'aka looked on, pleased. The smile on Roxas' face could have lit up a room, and indeed, the room felt brighter in that moment than it ever had.

"I don't mean the interrupt this adorable diorama, but honestly, there is work to be done. Can we all grab something and put it in its proper place? Roxas, please hand me your keyblade."

Roxas complied, and Vincent picked up the nearest two weapons to him, which were Axel's chakrams and a long metal rod with a leather-bound handle, and carried them to the cabinet, stowing them safely away as the other five people in the room followed suit, until the cabinet was locked. From the rack to the side, Vincent pulled a perfect wooden replica of the keyblade and tossed it to Roxas, who caught it high above his head, and brought it down in front of him. Although not as light or smooth as the real version, the wooden weapon was an excellent imitation, and its balance was admirable. Vincent's voice rang out clear and authoritative,

"Grab a wood or leave, children."

With that, Axel picked up his own wooden chakrams and stood next to Roxas, the other three mumbled a final few messages congratulating Roxas on his choice, and then filed out of the door, shutting it behind them. Beside him, Axel twirled his chosen weapons idly, and Roxas swallowed heavily.

"Let's begin."

* * *

Later that night, Roxas lay in bed, staring at the ceiling with his arms behind his head, waiting for his hair to dry. He'd come home and immediately run himself a bath with his mother's bath salts, and spent a solid hour soaking his aching muscles, massaging one particularly ugly bruise on his shin that he had actually given himself with a particularly uncontrolled swing. Now dry, he thought back on the evening, and winced as he remembered the enormous cut and bruise he had given Axel on the other boy's right arm, which he'd not complained about but in the changing room he had caught the older boy rubbing it gently and hissing in pain. Axel, however, had refused to acknowledge that it was anything but a graze, even less so when Roxas tried to apologise for it.

Carried away by some soft music in the background, Roxas' eyes glossed over as he reflected on his life and how much it had changed in the space of two short weeks. He'd gone from a happy-go-lucky aspiring artist to a clandestine Fight Club-like scenario, and all because of meeting Axel. Axel had turned his life upside down, spun it around and kicked it in the rear, and he had not actually 'done' anything - Roxas found himself drawn towards the mystery, the excitement and the vague sense of danger surrounding the redhead. Did he enjoy it?

'Yes', the answer came, unfalteringly. Axel loved it. Even with the few practice strokes he'd made that evening, the sense of power Roxas had felt was unbelievable, like he was always leading up to this. Vincent had instructed him to try to hit Axel, who simply defended. It had been so frustrating that a sort of manic bloodlust had overcome him which made him careless, leading to his self-injury which had stopped Axel defending to ask him if he was ok, which was when he'd managed to come down hard with his wooden keyblade on Axel's arm. The hot anger had dissipated on impact, and the session dwindled after that, despite Axel's protestations of unaffectedness. In fact, when Roxas had touched the bruise while they were getting changed, Axel had been very flustered. Roxas couldn't tell if it was because the older boy was ashamed, or... something deeper.

And what of Roxas' behaviour? How did he feel about Axel? He'd told Hayner and Zexion that he was attracted to Axel, but he had a feeling it went deeper than that; he just was not ready to address that yet. He was terrified that even giving credence to those internal thoughts would open him up to ruin their friendship, which Roxas was simply unwilling to do.

And what of Axel's behaviour? He had come to Twilight Town, let Roxas into his life, shared his deepest secret, been open to him - or had he? Despite everything, Roxas couldn't help but feel that there was something missing - Axel had explained that the training had begun because Vincent did not know how else to interact with the brothers, but something about that did not ring true with the impression he had made of Vincent.

Roxas only hoped that one day, Axel would trust him enough to be totally honest with him.

* * *

Life went on. Axel and Roxas continued to hang out by day, and spend their evenings training in Axel's basement. Roxas grew stronger by the day, but he took little praise as he watched Axel battle Reno and even Vincent, and found that his friend raised his game by such a stark amount that Roxas immediately resolved to progress even faster, to legitimately stand toe to toe with the older boy.

The also attended the martial arts club on Tuesday nights, which Roxas found all the more fun with his other training. The martial arts club was very well organised, and Leon himself was personable and enthusiastic about the two newcomers, discussing plans for the next regional competition with the entire group, as well as a display in the school Christmas show. He also had had one or two quiet discussions with Axel privately, which Axel did not divulge, but which Roxas knew was related to the Struggle. Overall, he felt like he was working towards something almost tangible, and could feel himself improving. One Sunday, four weeks after Roxas had first met Axel, the older boy suggested a change of scenery - to go to a location outside of the town and pack a lunch and spar out in the open, which Roxas readily agreed to, and so they found themselves driving out to the woods just on the outskirts of Twilight Town, which stretched for miles.

The road eventually petered out to a dirt trail, then Roxas told Axel to pull his car in. Grabbing his backpack and the coolbox, Roxas led the way over a stile and up a faint path, Axel following close behind with their woods. They walked through a dense tree line, which gradually thinned and there was a clearing with only an ancient oak tree in the centre.

Axel whistled - it was absolutely what he'd had in mind. "Whoa, Roxas! You read my mind, this place is perfect."

"Thought so! My mom used to take me and Sora here when we were little to have picnics. I'm sure I've spent a high percentage of my childhood up in that tree."

"Awesome. Food first?"

"God yes." They broke out the food, munching noisily on overstuffed sandwiches and slurping sodas like a pair of six year olds, until eventually Roxas walked over to the tree, picked up his wooden keyblade, waggled it in front of Axel, and called,

"En guarde!"

Axel chuckled, then suddenly ducked under the outstretched wood and rolled off to the side, leaping up quickly and collecting his chakrams along the way. When he stood to his feet, he held the weapons to his sides, and Roxas faltered momentarily, before steeling his resolve.

"Don't hold back, Ax!"

"...are you sure?"

"Heads up!" They clashed.

* * *

_Forty-five minutes later_

"This is POINTLESS." Roxas threw the keyblade down in disgust. "This thing is stupid. You're like ten feet taller than me, and you've been doing this shit for eight years. I've been at it three weeks. I am fucking giving up, this is ridiculous." He flung the unusually-shaped weapon at the large oak tree to their right and the branches trembled violently with the force of the impact.

"Tell that to the tree. I think it's shaking. You might have fractured its branch." Axel's tone was teasing, but Roxas did not take well to the jibe, glaring angrily at Axel, sweat dripping down his hair, leaving his face framed attractively. Axel bit his lip, quelling the urge to raise Roxas' ire even further.

"Fuck you, asshole. Just 'cos you know what you're doing." Roxas suddenly found himself pinned by his lapels to the tree. Axel's eyes were blazing with deep-seated emotional turmoil, and Roxas' momentary frustration evaporated into a sickly fear.

"Don't. Just don't. I've spent my entire adolescence having to fight Vincent - you know he endurance tests us? I mean, it's not anything we didn't 'sort of' agree to, but having your hardcore uncle repeatedly hitting you with a bat or whipping you until you can't feel it anymore? It's not exactly  _fun_ , Roxas. The whole time I've had my uncle beating me down, then berating me for not managing to best him, despite the fact that he's been at this longer than I've been alive. He doesn't give half this shit to Reno, because he apparently sees 'something stronger' in me, I don't fucking know what. Would you rather I had you hitting a nine year old instead?" When he finished his tirade, he was shaking with the release of pent-up rage and sadness, and his eyes widened. He released Roxas and stepped back, staring at his hands as if they did not belong to him. He whirled round, and began walking towards the path they had come into the meadow on. He managed to walk forty feet before Roxas finally knocked himself out of his daze.

"Hey, Axel, wait! I'm sorry!"

Axel responded with a dismissive wave. "I need to cool off, leave me alone for a while." Roxas leaned back against the tree, a sick feeling in his stomach, and no clue how to salve the lifetime of stored frustration he'd inadvertently blown open with his petulant behaviour. He was trying to think rapidly, when he heard an ominous creak, and looked up to see the thirty foot branch directly above him lurch, then break from the trunk and began to freefall. He froze in fear.

"ROXAS!" He heard Axel shout from the path, but he couldn't process that he was in danger - the primal fight or flight instinct vanished, and he stood rooted to the spot. Then, he vaguely processed that Axel had yelled again, and time slowed down.

" _ **BURN!**_ " Axel roared. As soon as the words left the redhead's mouth, the air around Roxas seemed to heat up. He felt a sickly pull, and then flames exploded around him, surrounding his entire frame. He felt rather than saw the branch hit the fire, and it was disintegrated instantly. There was an enormous whooshing sound that echoed in Roxas' head. As suddenly as they'd started, the flames disappeared, and he was showered with the branch's remaining ash. Caught in a stunned stupor, Roxas did not notice Axel speeding towards him until he was grabbed roughly and pulled close to Axel, the older boy's long arms wrapped tightly around the blond.

"Holy fuck, Rox, are you ok? You could have been killed, why didn't you  **move**?"

Pressed to his chest, Roxas could feel Axel's heart racing. "Mmmmffff!"

"Huh! Oh! Sorry." He released Roxas from the chest-crushing hug, and stooped to Roxas' eye level. "You almost gave me a heart attack!"

Roxas coughed, the air in his lungs still burning. "I'm fine. What the hell was that."

"It... spontaneously combusted? Air friction from the drop?"

"Ok, I'm not totally stupid.  _It_  didn't do anything,  _you_  did. How the hell did you do that?" Axel hesitated, and Roxas was surprised to see him look stricken. He appeared to debate for a few long moments, then he stepped back from Roxas and seated himself against the tree truck. He gestured to Roxas to do the same, which Roxas did, patiently, knowing this was important. Axel's skin was white as a sheet.

"What I'm about to tell you, you have to promise to tell absolutely no-one - not your mom, not Sora, or your friends - no-one." Roxas nodded, and Axel continued. "I did do that. I guess you'd call it magic, but I don't really think of it that way. I wasn't really thinking - you didn't move, I panicked and it just sort of happened, but it's something I started learning to use when I was a kid. Reno can do it too, and so can Uncle Vincent - that's why we train together. It started out of necessity - anyone who can do this stuff generally starts doing it at puberty, but sometimes it takes longer to start. Reno started blowing the circuit breakers in the house while he was asleep. Every night for two weeks, Dad was going mental 'cos he couldn't work out what was happening and we'd wake up to a fridge that had been off all night. He happened to tell Vincent, and Vincent twigged it immediately. He moved in with us two days later, and he's been there every since."

"Circuit breakers? How did he... he did what?"

"All Speakers have a particular skill they have an affinity for. Usually it's an element - Reno's good with electricity, as you've noticed, fire's my gig. It's not like I can't do other stuff too, it's just fire's easy for me, but not the most useful. It's unwieldy, and wastefully destructive."

"What does Vincent do?"

"Vincent is really unusual - he can make himself invisible, which, given his line of work, seems extremely helpful."

"I thought you said you only suspected that?"

"When you really get to know him, he'll tell you some stories. We still don't know for sure, but he has definitely got a high body count behind him. You can see it in his eyes, sometimes."

Roxas frowned, thinking back to something Axel had said that jarred with him. "You called people like you Speakers? I'm guessing that's a formal thing?"

"Yeah, it's kind of a nickname really. There've been people like us forever - since the dawn of man, really. Who'd you think started the whole fire craze? Anyway. The old name for the art of whatever you want to call this is called the Will and the Word, because you draw in your Will to power what you want to do-"

"The spell."

"Sure. And then you say a Word to release it. The word is key - it isn't the same word every time, and it has to be related to the 'spell' or it won't work."

"'Burn'?"

Axel winced at the reminder. "Yeah. Bit crude, but it did the job, I was panicking."

"Your concern for me is flattering."

"Shut up, twink, I'm explaining. It was do or die. Anyway. So, 'cos of the Word, we became known as Speakers, and we call the thing itself Speaking."

"If I could  _talk_  to the animals..."

"Oh ha, ha, ha. I knew someone who could do that, once. She was killed by a bear that was offended by her attitude." He grinned maliciously, and Roxas' eyes almost popped out of his head.

"Fuck."

"I know, stupid girl. She wasn't one of these namby-pamby Bambi types, she was a total bitch, and she got what she deserved. She was cruel to the animals she was gifted to understand."

"Wow, you'd have thought..."

"I know. She was twisted."

"Can you show me?"

"Rox, I can't talk to animals."

"Nonononono, you idiot."

"Oh! Sorry, yes, ok." He held up his hand, and once again Roxas felt the odd pulling sensation before Axel's hand burst into flames. Axel himself seemed taken aback for a moment, before he shrugged.

Roxas stared at the flame, fascinated. "My god. That's just incredible."

"Haha, that's what I thought the first time I saw it, too. 'Cos of Reno, Vincent thought he'd better get me to learn how to control mine properly, he always thought it was important. You don't generally know what your affinity is for until it happens for the first time, and when I tried to do what Reno did, nothing happened - well, a tiny spark, but that's it. But when I get annoyed, this happened. It's pretty sweet to look at, but it's sometimes more trouble than it's worth."

"I wish I could do it."

"Ha, doesn't everyone! Besides, if you could, it'd probably be something like the ability to shrink yourself or something lame like that."

"Oh my god will you leave it with the height jokes, jeez! All my friends are the same height, and you and your freakish non-twin are taller - think it might be you that's just weird and lanky?" The laughter that rang out was genuine, and the flames on his hands rippled as he chuckled.

"Wanna see something really cool?"

"Sure."

"Touch my hand."

Roxas turned to face Axel more directly, and hesitantly reached his hand out towards Axel's burning one. As he did so, he realised that the flames did not burn - he kept pushing his hand forward until his palm met Axel's. Then, Axel slowly interlocked fingers with Roxas, and Roxas' heart skipped a beat. He looked up at the taller boy, and their eyes met for the briefest second before Axel's lips were on his, needy and strong. Stunned initially, Roxas' entire self rejoiced and he returned the kiss eagerly, mouths opening and tongues clashing, Axel now leaning back into the tree trunk. Eventually, they broke for air, and Roxas took in Axel's flushed form. He was sexy anyway, but with red cheeks and swollen lips, he was alluring in a way Roxas found make him almost uncomfortable.

Axel spoke first. "Ok, so I guess you too."

"You could say that."

"Since when?"

"...first day."

"Same." Axel's face brightened as he spoke, and Roxas felt his heart lift at the same time. "You were all sweaty and your cheeks were all pink, and your hair was falling down and I just thought 'jackpot'."

"I thought you were a girl." There was a pregnant pause.

"...what?"

"Well, I could only see your back - you had your hand on your hip. But you're not, thankfully."

"Do I stand like a girl!"

"Yeah, kinda, when you're bored, you sort of stick your hip out, and..."

"Oh, you did  _not_  just imply that I have womanly hips."

"You do! They're sweet."

"Shut up. Shut  _up_." As if to carry out his order, he claimed Roxas' lips again, this time softer, more exploratory. He gently brought a hand up to cup the small smooth cheeks, and ran the other hand through Roxas' beach-blond locks. Roxas wrapped his arms around Axel's waist and held him in complete disbelief that this moment was happening. Axel's lips were so warm, and, belatedly, he noticed the fire had disappeared from Axel's hands. For something that was alight just a moment ago, Axel's hands were smooth and soft and the same slightly higher temperature as Axel's mouth, and then his tongue was in Roxas' mouth and that was  _hot_  too and then the whole world fell away and there was just Axel, Axel's heat, Axel pressing into him... Roxas raised his arms to cling to Axel's shoulders, all the while his tongue tentatively dancing with its invader, his arms stretching upwards now to run through Axel's hair, and there he got another shock... He was expecting Axel's hair to be hard and full of product, but it was soft and thick. He paused his movement while he threaded his fingers through the crimson strands, fascinated with the difference from his expectations.

He felt Axel smirk into his now-still lips, and after allowing a few moments discovery, Axel drew Roxas' attention once more by grinding his hips into the distracted boy's. A sickening feeling burst across Roxas' stomach, and he momentarily wavered, sliding further back along the tree trunk. The kiss went the other way, however, and Axel removed his tongue, pulling away marginally, then leaving a chaste peck on Roxas' pink lips before leaning his forehead to touch Roxas'.

"I can't believe I finally got to do that," he said, his voice slightly unsteady. "But I don't want to move fast with you... I don't want to rush into something. I've been with people before but nothing serious. This could be different and I don't want to just leap into something rash."

Gratefully, Roxas managed to drop his left hand to find Axel's right, and he squeezed it. "I feel the same - you're the first person I've ever been interested in, but if I'm honest, I'm a little scared by it." His face was red as he admitted this, but Axel gripped his face anew and looked him deep in the eye.

"...so am I. I've never told anyone outside of my family and a few other Speakers about... me... and I'm still scared you're going to run away from me now."

"No. It's awesome."

"Oh good." Axel cracked a weak smile. A comfortable silence descended Roxas could hear the wind picking up and whistling through the trees, the grass rustling, and Axel breathing. Eventually, Axel broke the silence.

"Pick that dumb wood up and let's go again." He stood up, picked his chakrams up and adopted a relaxed open stance. Newly invigorated, Roxas collected his mock keyblade from the ground at the base of the tree, bent his knees and raised the weapon, ready to dance once more.


	8. Chapter 7 - In Which Canon Rears its Ugly Head

After dropping Roxas off (and sharing a clandestine, sloppy goodbye kiss), Axel drove home, a stupid grin plastered to his face. He was elated - he'd guessed that the little blond shared his attraction, but was pleased by the level of guarded, curious affection shown him - the way he'd run his fingers through his hair, the way he'd clung desperately to him - Axel had had to fight himself to stop where he had. He had been  _aching_  to touch Roxas, to run his hands along virgin skin, kiss every pulse point, to put him beneath him... but he had controlled himself, and was glad he had done so - it would have been far outside of Roxas' comfort zone. Smirking, he pulled into his own driveway and parked the car in the garage, noting the absence of Cloud's motorbike, but the presence of every vehicle except his father's, indicating Reno and Vincent were home. He locked up the car, grabbed the overladen gear bag and the strap containing the woods, and began to walk towards the house. Reno appeared in the doorway, and reached out for the strapped woods, lightening Axel's load considerably. Together, they walked through the house down to the gym room.

"So. How was the date?"

"It wasn't a date."

"And I'm the Queen of Radiant Garden. You're  _pink_ , and you're  _glowing_."

"Oh shut up, Reno, alright? Fine, yes, it went fine. He nearly got killed by a tree, I burned it in front of him, he nearly had a heart attack, I kissed him, we went home. Happy?" There was a clatter as Reno dropped the load he was carrying.

"You did WHAT?"

"I kissed him."

"Not that you idiot. You Spoke in front of him?" Reno's tone was incredulous, and he paused in front of the closed gym door.

Axel carefully laid down his bag and spoke wearily. "He was standing under this tree. A branch fell on him, I was standing too far away. He could have been killed; I didn't have time to think, it just happened. It was weird though, I only meant to set the branch alight, but something weird happened, because it-"

"...was a lot stronger than you thought, correct?" Vincent's voice rumbled from underneath the door. Both redheads froze, and the door creaked open. Vincent was standing right next to the door, which meant he had heard every word. His face was stony, but his eyes were open and full of regret. He spoke slowly. "Reno. I need to speak to Axel alone." Axel swallowed audibly. Reno frowned, but he relented and stumbled off back down the corridor, and after a moment could be heard trudging up the stairs. Vincent stood aside to allow Axel entry. Once inside, he dropped his load on the floor, and followed his uncle to the cabinet, where Vincent handed him a cloth and began taking the weapons out one by one and rubbing them down gently. Axel followed his lead, but started one set in, skipping his chakrams, although his fingers ghosted over them briefly before shrinking back and moving to the six different cesti above. He became so engrossed in the task at hand that he jumped slightly when Vincent broke the silence.

"I am not angry with you for sharing the truth of your nature with Roxas. He is a trustworthy friend, and has a keen eye, talent and potential. I am curious to know one thing - how did he come to be in that situation?"

"He threw his wood at a tree because he was annoyed at not being able to hit me. It knocked a branch the size of a bus off, and he froze up out of fear."

"I see." Vincent let out an amused 'hmph'. "Then what?"

"Then... well it all happened very quickly. I started running but I wouldn't have made it - so I just shouted and what I Spoke was meant to just burn the branch, but it didn't come off like that - instead, it's like I made a bubble of fire around Roxas, and the branch hit it and burned up."

"Has that ever happened before, or since?"

Axel thought before responding. "Yeah. After I explained to him what happened, he asked me to show him - I wanted to just make my finger a lighter, but my entire hand practically exploded." He paused, thinking back to what Vincent had said on opening the door. "How did you know?"

Vincent sighed heavily, focusing on polishing the uchigatana in his hand. "Before I taught you to use your power, what did I teach you?"

"Defense."

"What for?"

"To defend ourselves?" At this answer, Vincent glared at Axel with pained patience, so the boy tried again. "To... stop anyone leeching our inner Will." It dawned on him what that implied. "Oh! Does that mean...?"

"Yes. Roxas is a Speaker, or could be, if he chose to develop the skill. How did he react to you?"

"He was amazed. He thought it was awesome."

"Do you think he would take it well, if we enlightened him?"

"Yes," Axel answered without hesitation. "I do."

"Good. Axel, there is something I need to discuss with you. You are aware of course that leeching Will is something that we all do on a very low level, and that most of us learn those defences to stop this. You've never felt anyone attempt to draw your Will, have you?" Axel shook his head, and Vincent fixed him with a serious stare. "I have. In fact, I do every day, and so does Reno. Reno's defences are far more honed that yours, because they have to be - he has to stop you from pulling it from him. You're a Leech Speaker - and a very strong one at that. Even with my experience, I have to actively maintain my defences around you, because you can and have broken through them." He paused briefly to see if Axel was taking this in, but the boy seemed to be listening intently without reacting. "In all my experience, I've only once met someone who could do that like you; you know who that is and he's dead. I don't know if you're even aware of it when you're doing it."

Axel looked blankly at him, trying to comprehend what was being told to him. Vincent smiled benevolently, and caught his eye.

"If you think it's a lot to take in, let me tell you a funny story. The first time Cloud came in contact with you and Reno, he was still recovering from the Volcano Battle; you know this. I'd been there; I watched him deal the fatal blow to Sephiroth, the most powerful Leech Speaker in history. He had stared him out and struck him down, had practically moved the heavens on the way. Then he came here, and the first day he got here, your twelve-year old self accidentally pilfered his Will to light the stove, and nearly set fire to the whole kitchen. He had to go back to the basics and study how to defend against a scrawny kid whose voice hadn't broken yet - can you imagine that?" There was the faintest upward curve on to his lips.

"I wasn't scrawny."

"You're still scrawny, dear boy."

Axel's eyes flashed at that, but then he grunted a laugh, before he turned serious again. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"Axel, you know as well as I do, Leeches are ostracised in our world, and for good reason - because throughout our history, all of the most powerful and most... unscrupulous Speakers have been Leech Speakers. Sephiroth did nothing to help that, and he was totally new - he discovered how to access latent Will in Silents."

Axel let out a gasp. "But... that would..."

"Yes. It did. It was kept quiet, even from the Speaking World, but that is how his body count was so high - he drained latent Will from Silents, that which kept them alive, and killed thousands. The stigma against Leeching is something that is so ingrained, your father and I took the decision to keep your nature from you, to try to help you lead a normal life. Basic defences are taught and have been taught to every Speaker, which for the most part means Leech Speaking on a moderate level is very difficult, but every so often someone comes along that exceeds that, and usually they, for want of a better term, 'go bad'. Please don't feel hurt that we tried to keep it from you - this conversation was inevitable; I'm totally unsurprised it is occurring because you happened to save a latent Speaker. Your character is impeccable, Axel, and I've always been so proud of you."

He tried, but Axel couldn't stop the tears well up in his eyes, and he looked to Vincent, who put down the push daggers and the cloth in his hands and closed the distance between them, enveloping the redhead in his arms. Overwhelmed, Axel collapsed into the entrance, sobbing as the emotion overtook him. Eventually, he gained control over himself, but by the time Vincent was stroking his hair, soothing him in a low voice.

"I am sorry. I understand that I have always been much more the disciplinarian with you than with your brother. I know it was hard, but I was so worried that if I was slack with you, you would not grow up as fine as you have. You have always been so serious, but you have always given us reason to have faith in you... I  _am_  proud of you, proud to have helped to raise you, proud to have trained you. Your mother would have been proud too." This hit a nerve that Vincent was well aware of, and he felt Axel cough wetly.

"D-did she know?"

"In her heart I think so - a mother knows when her children are special." At this, Axel seemed to nod imperceptibly, but he did not remove himself from his Uncle's grasp.

"What do I do?"

"The same as you always have. But you need to be careful around Roxas. The secret is out now, so you may feel free to go be yourself, but you must be careful - I do not know the strength of Roxas' Will, nor the depth of his potential, and you may hurt both of you. Please exercise due caution. I know you will."

"How do I tell him what he is... I mean,  _do_  I tell him?"

Vincent frowned at the question, but knew the boy did not understand the significance of the danger Roxas represented. "Do you intend to kiss him again? Or even go further?"

The blush that darkened Axel's cheeks gave off a heat that could be felt through several clothing layers, and finally Axel sprang out of Vincent's arms. "I know you'd get around to that. I really hope so, I mean, I do like him... a lot."

"Indeed, I can tell. It's plainly obvious to anyone within a ten-mile radius of the two of you, you might as well put a neon sign up. But," Vincent said quickly, cutting off Axel's spluttered protest, "the important thing is you  **must**  tell him, he  **must**  learn how to prevent you from leeching from him, for both of your sakes.

* * *

Axel was not in school the following day, and Roxas was worried, but a quick text message explaining he had something to take care of allayed the visit Roxas was considering after school. The next morning, Roxas sat through an horrendously difficult physics test, and after being consoled by Zexion and promising to thank him later at the martial arts club, he all but ran to the music room to his double English. To his relief, Axel was already sitting there, doodling idly in his journal. Roxas cheerily dropped his books down and turned to talk to the older boy, and he let out a gasp. The top of Axel's cheekbones were red and inflamed, and in the centre of each swelling lay the cause - an upside-down purple teardrop.

"Close your mouth, twink, you'll catch flies."

"Are those tattoos?"

"Yes... don't grow ovaries, Rox, I've already got six."

"They're on your face."

"...Really? They are? Shit, I thought I'd asked for them on my ass. I was wondering why it felt weird."

"Is that where you were yesterday?"

"Yup."

"Why... would you get tattoos on your face?"

"Ah, now, that would be your fault," Axel chuckled.

"What do you mean 'my fault'?" Roxas said, incensed.

"Your painting. You smudged it. I thought it looked cool. I've been thinking about it ever since, and Reno caught me doodling it and thought it was a great idea. He got some done too, but his aren't the same - you'll see at some point. Don't you like them?"

"Not sure. They're... can I touch them?"

"Sure, but we are in class."

Understanding Axel's meaning, Roxas casually reached out and touched a fingertip to the tattoo on Axel's left cheek. The skin was hot and tight, but Roxas knew from Sunday that Axel's skin was warm anyway, and now he understood why. He considered the tattoos at hand, and decided he liked them, as they were still Axel.

"They're cool. Don't think I want a set, but they're cool. They suit you."

Axel's response was cut off as Xemnas arrived with a sharp, smug air about him. Just as they were scrabbling to open their books, Axel scribbled a note and passed it to Roxas, who read it quickly.

' _Got_ _something_ _important_ _to_ _tell_ _you,_ _before_ _MA._ _Meet_ _me_ _out_ _front_ _after_ _classes._ ' Roxas nodded to say he got the message, and then concentrated on the class as Xemnas' voice barked from the top of the room.

* * *

As expected, Axel was already in his car waiting for Roxas when classes ended. They took off and drove the small journey to Station Heights, where Axel parked and they left the car behind. Axel led them inside the station, and then immediately to the right, up a set of cordoned-off stairs, ducking behind the velvet rope (with Roxas following suit, stunned no-one spotted them), up a never-ending set of stairs until they arrived at a set of heavy wooden doors, which Axel tried, but refused to budge. He winked at Roxas, whispered something inaudible and Roxas felt that pull, and the door unlocked with a loud 'click', and flung open. Axel led Roxas out onto the rooftop. Roxas drew in a deep breath - they were on the ledge near the top of the clock tower, and could see for miles around, over the whole of Twilight Town. Given the lateness of the season, the sun was just beginning to drop in the sky. Axel walked right over to the ledge, sat on the edge, and dangled his legs off. He patted the space next to him, and Roxas carefully followed and seated himself in a similar fashion. Axel reached into his bag and drew out a small coolbag, and produced from it two ice pops. He handed one to Roxas, and ripped off the wrapper, immediately digging into his own. Roxas took the offered treat, looking at the unfamiliar packaging suspiciously.

"...what flavour is it?"

"Just try it."

Shrugging, he tore off the wrapper and cautiously licked it. Immediately, his eyes opened wide - the taste was unlike any he'd ever experienced. It was bitter and sweet all at the same time. "What  _is_  this?"

"Sea salt ice cream. 'S good!" They ate the rest of the ice creams in peace, and when they finished, Axel leaned back so he was lying back on the ledge, his legs remaining over the side. Roxas copied his pose.

So... what did you want to talk to me about?" Roxas asked when Axel did not open the conversation that he was waiting for.

"I'll show you. Close your eyes and relax."

"O...k..."

"Roxas?" At his name, Roxas turned his head to look at the boy next to him. Axel's face was serious, none of his usual casual amusement even tracing his features. "Do you trust me?"

"Yes."

"Then do what I say. Close your eyes and relax." Roxas did so. "Try to picture yourself on an endless beach. Can you see it?" Roxas nodded as the vision filled his mind's eye. "Good. Focus on the grains of sand. They are all around you, covering every inch of the ground, sparkling and shining. Every time the wind blows, they move around, sometimes swirling. Imagine your hands are flat on the sand. Can you feel it?"

"Yes."

"What does it feel like?"

"...it's... warm."

"Good. Run your hands over the sand, push the grains around, bury your hands in the sand. Can you pick up a handful of sand?" In his dream-like state, Roxas tried, but to his great chagrin, he could only pick up a few grains - the rest of them slipped through his fingers.

"No, I can't.. I'm trying but-"

"It's ok. Instead, gather the sand to you. Scoop it towards you."

This was easier. Roxas ran his hands through the imagined sand, sweeping it towards him as instructed. It felt so smooth.

Axel continued his strange tour with a question."Can you see anything on the beach?"

"Besides the ocean?"

"Besides the ocean."

"No." There was a pause.

"...nothing at all?" Axel sounded confused, and a little disappointed.

"No, nothing. Just the sand, the sea and the sun."

"...the sun? You can see the sun shining?"

"Yes. It's really bright. Like - blindingly bright. It's beautiful." There was a silence, and when Axel spoke, he sounded like he was trying to mask his glee, poorly.

"Keep the sun in your mind, and... open your eyes."

Roxas opened his eyes slowly, and at first was not sure he had done so, as all he could see was white. Then, the whiteness rippled, and he realised what was in front of him was a shifting bubble of light. He jumped, and the bubble burst and disappeared. He sat up rapidly, shock apparent on his face.

"Wh-what was that?"

"You're a Speaker, Roxas."

Roxas paled, and his head swam.

Instantly, Axel was next to him, his arms around the younger boy, resting Roxas' dizzy head against his chest. "Don't faint! You're heavier than you look as dead weight and I don't want to regret bringing you up here. It's true though, you are a Speaker. I didn't even realise it, idiot that I am, Vincent worked it out, and he more or less demanded I tell you.

"I... wow. I don't know how to react. What was that ball-thing?"

"That was your element. Looks like you've got some kind of attraction to light - you saw a sun, and made a ball of light. On my beach, I saw a bonfire, and then I burned my eyebrows off. Reno's had already manifested, so we knew him and lightning are best buddies, but he says he can see forked lightning in the sky. No-one sees the sun except you, as far as I know."

"Why did you tell me to play with the sand?"

"You're taking this well. Sand! When a Speaker is totally relaxed, they can easily drop into the 'Speaking side' of themselves. I told you the other day, in order to Speak you draw in Will and release it with a Word. The world is furnished with Will, just lying there, like air, and we all have it inside us; every living thing does. Silents can't connect their Will to the Will outside; Speakers can. You could draw in yours from the outside, but the ball didn't appear until you said you could see the sun - that was the right Word. The second you said it, it popped into existence next to your head."

"This... is amazing."

"...it's not all good, though, Rox. What do you feel when I do this?" Axel called forth a fireball several feet away. As he did so, Roxas felt a yanking sensation that seemed to come from deep down inside, a feeling that made him ill.

"I... I don't know. It's like a sort of pulling feeling, it's horrible."

"Hmmm. Ok. Lie back while I'm doing this, and see if you can go to the beach."

Roxas did so, but try as he might, he could not visualise the beach from earlier - the pulling sensation was the only thing he could feel at all. "I-I can't, I just..." He opened his eyes and saw Axel wave a hand, and the fireball vanished, taking the sickly feeling with it.

"That's because of who  _I_  am. Most Speakers pull from the outside, but there are a rare few who are less discerning about where they get it from, and they can steal it from other Speakers. i didn't even know until Sunday because my family kept it hidden from me, but I'm one of those - we call them Leech Speakers, or just Leeches."

"That's not a very nice name. Why would they hide it from you?"

"It's not a very nice thing. They hid it because every single Leech that anyone knows about went mad with power and killed a lot of people. Do you know the power plant disaster in Midgar five years ago?" Roxas nodded. "Killed lots of people? Well, it wasn't, it was a nutcase Leech called Sephiroth. You know it was Cloud that killed him?"

"I'm not surprised." They laughed.

"I know, right? He's a bit like that. If someone told me he'd hand built the pyramids, I'd probably believe them." The atmosphere lightened, and Roxas sat up slightly, leaning back on his elbows.

"Are you going to go psycho?" The question was put so flatly, it forced a laugh from the redhead.

"I hope not. It's not on my agenda for this week, anyway. I'll keep you posted. In any case, you need to learn to stop me from leeching from you at least - Vincent will teach you how, and then there won't be any... accidents."

"Accidents?"

"Well, I sort of draw in my Will and intend one thing to happen, but if you're nearby and undefending, I'll pull yours too, and what I meant to do will go out the window. I'd totally forgotten about it, but the first time I met Cloud I meant to light the stove and almost blew up the kitchen. I used to think I was really unstable but it makes a lot of sense now."

"Axel, I... think I'm going to vomit."

"Please don't." There was a note of desperation in the firestarter's voice that stilled Roxas entirely, which quelled the rising nausea in his stomach.

"...why?"

"Because I don't want to taste that." His meaning sent a ripple of heat to Roxas' abdomen, and he turned his head towards the other, who leaned over him slightly, but hung back, guarded. In an uncharacteristic display of assertiveness, Roxas grabbed a fistful of checked shirt, and pulled Axel the remaining distance, guiding his lips to his own, seeking to dominate the kiss from below. He felt a note of tension evaporate from the taller boy, who dropped his shoulders to press harder against the smaller blond. However, Roxas' naiveté quickly showed, and Axel recognised this, pushing his tongue gently forward to part the smooth pink lips, capturing its slightly smaller counterpart and pulling it into a sort of gentle dance. The feel of Axel's tongue was electrifying, and Roxas brought one arm up to grip the slim shoulders above him; the other rested falteringly on Axel's hip.

In doing so, he was struck by two things - Axel's body was radiating heat, but he did not have a bead of sweat anywhere. It made sense that fire was Axel's natural element - his very body seemed built for it. The careful shifting of his own shirt and the slipping of a warm hand underneath jolted him back to reality, and he inadvertently let out a nervous squeak. He felt Axel grin into the kiss, then deepen it, casually advancing his fingertips up the shuddering chest beneath to settle on one sensitive bud. At the tiniest pinch, Roxas' hips reacted of their own accord and he bucked away from Axel, who stiffened, softening his lip movements and gradually slowing as he removed his hand from underneath the shirt he'd invaded. Planting one final kiss on Roxas' lips, he lifted his head and smiled seriously.

"Sorry. I-I'm going too fast for you, I didn't mean that, it's-"

"It's fine. It's just - I'm - it's new to me. I've never done this with anyone else before, so... I'm sorry too." He met Axel's eyes, which were kind. "Have you?"

"Yes, I have. Just with one person, and that was a mistake, in retrospect."

"Why was it a mistake?" The question was innocent, but Axel slumped at it.

"Because... he was just my friend, but he was very much in love with me, and he convinced me that sleeping with him would show me that I loved him too. It was fun, don't get me wrong, but I did not love him. It went on for about six or seven months before I broke it off. He was becoming... really creepy."

"..."

"Without getting too much into the gory details, he started off quite needy, but over time I think he got angry that I still didn't love him, and he started getting a bit more aggressive. The day I broke it off, he'd gotten carried away and tried to throttle me, and very nearly succeeded - when I woke up, Vincent had knocked him out on the ground." By the time he finished his little speech, Roxas' eyes were like saucers.

"What did you do?"

"Got dressed and told him to get out."

"You were still  _naked_?"

"Yeah, Vincent heard him screaming at me after I'd passed out, but couldn't feel my consciousness - he hadn't stopped, just kept on going. I threw him out and he never came back. Never even saw him in school again. Then it was summer, and then I came here."

"Did you have to go to a hospital?"

"Nah, I was fine. Got left with these, though." He turned away, lifted the hair at the nape of his neck, and Roxas could plainly see two curved scars in the centre. He touched them gently, questioningly.

"How...?"

"He had really long nails. Those were from his thumbs."

Roxas tilted his head as he thought about the physics of that, then blushed as he realised that the other boy would have had to have been behind Axel, and his mind wandered immediately to imagining that scenario - and in his mind, he saw the other boy as a dark shadow consuming, strangling and violating Axel, pumping fervently into him from behind while Axel struggled weakly... Despite how terrible the concept was, his mind's eye focused on Axel's face; the sweat on his brow, the rhythmic movement of his limp, soaked hair, his screwed-shut eyes, the grip of his hands on the bed. The thoughts left him reeling, and he felt a shameful stirring below. To hide it, he sat up quickly and pulled the conversation onto a tangent.

"Can't you... I mean, can't you Speak them away or something?" Axel laughed; a sharp, mocking sound, but the aim was internal.

"Probably. It's not easy. I do it all the time - I can't believe you haven't noticed I've never got a mark on me, even though Vincent kicks HARD - but I wanted to keep these, to remind me not to go against my instincts again." Something had clicked in Roxas as he spoke.

"Oh my god, I totally noticed and didn't notice. You always have bruises on your arms and your head and then they're gone. I've been seeing them for weeks and it never occurred to me."

"Yeah. Vincent does it, mostly. I'm so bad at it; it takes so much effort. There are some Speakers who are really good at it - they usually end up as hippie 'healer'-types." He idly checked his watch, then sprang up quickly. "Rox! We gotta move, it's almost 5!"

"Oh! Crap! Leon's gonna be mad!"


	9. Chapter 8 - in which an ill-thought (and ill-quoted) Wizard of Oz joke causes friction

After pelting back to the school and racing in to the changing rooms, Axel and Roxas joined the group, who were gathered in the corner, waiting. Axel and Roxas chattered while they recovered from the rushed changing (Axel going so far as to turn his shirt the right way around), discussing quietly with Zexion about Axel's Struggle entry. Ten minutes dragged by, and neither Leon nor any of his usually assistants arrived, which became achingly obvious as time went on. Usually, they were there long beforehand, setting up. Finally, the door opened and Roxas felt Axel darken as their English teacher strode purposefully through the door with his head held high, and his ever-present sneer radiating outwards. He reached the group, which parted silently to allow him passage so he could speak to them.

"Good evening," he intoned, ending all muttering in the group. "For those of you who have not met me before, my name is Xemnas." Axel mouthed 'Professor' in an exaggerated parody, and Roxas giggled. "I have been teaching English here for a month. I'm afraid that your current gym leader has taken a job in Midgar training recruits to the army there, and has already transferred out." Roxas looked up at Axel, whose eyebrows were furrowed; his expression unusually serious. He was bothered. "However," Xemnas continued, "He asked me to look after this club and I have of course told him I would be honoured to oversee such a fine group of students of the martial arts. Please - if you could carry out this session tonight as thought it were normal, then I can learn from you." The words were open, friendly even, but the grin on his eyes was anything but. The club seemed mollified though, and broke into groups, segregating the warmup they usually performed together.

Xemnas walked through the groups, observing at length. When he arrived at the kendo group, he paid attention to each of them in turn, and when it came to Axel's turn, Roxas noticed the redhead held back more severely than usual, so much so that his opponent managed to disarm him and then, instead of stopping, he got overenthusiastic and cracked Axel on the arm. The redhead went down like a shot, and Xemnas sniffed, then turned around to look at another group. Axel's opponent, a sandy-haired blond named Demyx, whom Axel had struck up an immediate friendly rivalry with, dropped his shinai and ran to the side of the fallen boy. Roxas started forward, but Axel immediately sat up.

"Oh my god, Axel," Demyx gushed, "I'm so sorry."

Axel grunted, but had a wan smile teasing his features. "'S fine, Dem. Naughty, dirty cheap shot."

"I know, I'm really sorry. I couldn't believe it, my arms were acting on their own."

"Sure they were. Any other body parts I should be worried about acting on their own?"

"Oh, you know it." Demyx winked at Axel, who took his offered hand, stood, and grinned back. At the casual flirt, Roxas felt a hot flash of jealousy course through him, but he clenched his fist and unclenched it a number of times and let the anger fade. Axel cared about him, wanted him. Not Demyx, Roxas. As if to reassure him, Axel turned his head to face Roxas briefly, gave him a serious stare, then pinched his lips to hint at a blown kiss.

* * *

After the club, Xemnas thanked everyone for the session, and promised to see them all the next week. After changing, Roxas and Axel drove to Axel's house and wolfed down a meal before heading downstairs. The training room was empty, so they carried on to the changing area. As Axel tied his shoelaces, Roxas thought of a question.

"Why did you let yourself get hit?"

"Because Xemnas was watching me, and I didn't want to draw attention to myself. Quite the opposite. He was watching everyone, and there's something about him that creeps me out."

"What is it?"

"I don't know. It rings a bell, can't think why. Anyway, come on, twink."

"Will you  **stop**  calling me that?"

"Are you trying to tell me you're not? You're gay, pretty, slim and haven't even got a hint of a beard, and I'd wager not much hair anywhere else - dictionary-definition ectomorph. You're a twink, Roxas."

"No, but... well, by that definition yes, but I don't exactly like it, it's not exactly the nicest term, is it?"

Just then, the door burst in, and Reno called in a sing-song voice, "Come along, ladies, Auntie Vincent is getting a hot flush and you'll be on the receiving end of her knicker-twist wrath if you don't hurry uuuuuup!" The door slammed closed heavily in his wake, but Axel was right behind him, yanking it open again to see Vincent glaring wearily at Reno, who blew him a kiss by way of apology. As the younger two males took up spots on the centre of the room, Vincent sat on the ground in front of them, and Reno took a position slightly to the side, lending the four the appearance of a haphazard circle.

"Roxas." Vincent's beautiful, deep voice sounded out, and Roxas looked at him, nodding. "Welcome to the family. Speakers are very, very rare, and always have been - but it is said that we gravitate towards each other, and as such, we have met you. Although Axel has told me he has spoken to you, and told you about the urgent nature of the requirement to learn to defend yourself, he has not told me if you have worked out your element yet?"

"How did he tell y- I'm not sure what you mean."

"Did he talk you through to the beach?"

"Yes..."

"Describe the beach you saw."

"Ok. There was sand on three sides, and far away, the ocean. Nothing else, except the sun shining in the sky."

"Can you go there now?"

Roxas nodded at the request, and closed his eyes. The image of the beach appeared after a moment's thought, and he did as he had been instructed earlier, and began to cup his hands into the sand. This time, the rushing feeling was expected, and as such, it was easier to concentrate. As such, he actually noticed the sun appear over the horizon; a fact he'd missed previously. Unknown to himself, he spoke a single word.

"Wow." At once, he felt a thrilling whoosh flow through him, not unlike a wave, and then there was a loud bang. The beach disappeared and Roxas opened his eyes to find the room in total darkness.

"Axel?" Vincent called impatiently. "A little illumination, perhaps?"

"Oh! Sorry!" Two large balls of fire erupted next to him, in Axel's hands, illuminating the four of them in the rough circle. One by one, more balls of fire burst into being throughout the room, floating on air, and began undulating lazily around the room. Vincent shook his head, rolling his eyes.

"Phenomenal cosmic power and brain the size of a turnip, you."

"I didn't blow the lightbulbs!" Axel protested.

"Yeah, and for once it wasn't me!" Reno cried. "Nice style, Roxas. I used to just go for the circuit breakers but the glass all over the floor is a nice touch."

"Th-that was ME!"

"Yes, you idiot, that was you," Axel snapped. "You said 'wow', the lights all went very bright and then they all blew." Although he spoke quickly, his voice was full of admiration and pride.

When Vincent spoke, his tone was much more one of pained patience; a familiar emotion to Roxas by now. "Well, I think we can unequivocally say that light is your friend. That is most useful - a light in the sky can illuminate, but a light in your opponent's eyes can momentarily blind them, giving you the upper hand. Congratulations, Roxas. For now, I would ask you to refrain from experimenting with this, and concentrate on learning the basics of defense." Roxas nodded, which pleased him. "Good. Reno - go get some lightbulbs. Axel - stand up front. Roxas, stay where you are."

* * *

The evening was more enjoyable than Roxas thought it would be. The mental defences were not complicated to learn, but Vincent made it painfully clear that if Axel really tried to do something drastic, he could probably overcome Vincent's own honed defences. The implication was somewhat frightening, and indeed Axel himself sank into the corner at each repetition of his potential. Vincent would instruct Roxas in how to raise a barrier around his own Will, then Axel would gently draw Will, and Roxas would practise strengthening his barrier until he could cease feeling Axel leeching his Will. It became easier and easier as the evening wore on, and by the end, Roxas did not feel it was too much of a challenge to maintain a small barrier at all times. Vincent promised that with time, he would not even realise he was doing it, and that was when he would truly be safe.

Axel made a bold request of Roxas afterwards.

"Hey, Rox, come up to my room for a while, we can hang out." The words were innocent, the tone was innocent, but the flash at the corner of Axel's eyes was... not quite. Roxas wanted to refused, to say no, to walk away coolly, but his mouth had other ideas.

"Yeah, sure." The words fell out before he had a chance to stop them, and so Axel led Roxas up the grand staircase, and along one corridor. He pointed out several rooms along the way ('guest room, guest room, Reno's room where hope goes to die, bathroom where Reno goes to die...') before they came to a room with a broad blue door. Axel pushed the door in, then stepped inside Roxas following close behind. He only had a moment to take the room in (surprisingly neat, with a small double bed in one corner and a desk alongside) before the door closed and his exploration was cut short by Axel pushing him abruptly against the wall, capturing his lips in a kiss reminiscent of the one under the tree two days ago.

It was savage and passionate, and the force of it drew a sharp moan from the younger boy's throat. Determined not to be a pushover, Roxas responded fiercely, taking the slightest opening to slip his tongue past the hot lips on his, and stroking the opposing tongue with his own. When he let go and bit Axel's lips, he felt rather than heard the redhead growl, and he pushed against Roxas' hips, a movement which made Roxas weak at the knees as his clothing-cushioned erection brushed against a similarly-restricted bulge which had to be Axel's. Belatedly, the bags over each boy's shoulders dropped to the floor and Roxas' head was shoved to the side as Axel attacked his neck, licking and sucking the soft skin there. Roxas' eyes were shut, and he cried out softly as the older boy dragged teeth across the crook of Roxas' neck. His attention was so distracted by the mouth on his neck that he totally failed to notice his belt being carefully unbuckled, or the button on his jeans being surreptitiously undone, but he definitely noticed when Axel's hand slipped inside his pants to slide down inside his underwear, confidently stroking the heated flesh that hardened painfully under the attention and caused Roxas to let out a moan. The noise was louder than Axel had anticipated, and he echoed it with an involuntary moan of his own.

"A-Axel..." Roxas' breathy pleas stopped the older boy short, and Axel took a moment to lock the door to his room, then he forcibly picked up the gasping blond and carried him to his bed, laying him down carefully, kissing him once briefly and then immediately dropping to where he'd undone Roxas' jeans, and pulled down the slightly-strained briefs just enough to free Roxas' erection, and did not pause for breath, or even to check if he was allowed to continue, before gently nudging the tip of his tongue against the slit at the top of Roxas' arousal. Roxas managed to breathe long enough to gasp loudly, until Axel deftly took as much of Roxas in his mouth as he could, working his tongue around Roxas' over-sensitive head. Given that Roxas was proportioned well with his height, when he jerked his hips upwards and inadvertently forced Axel's lips to slam against his pelvis, the older boy took it in his stride and continued sucking, soft at first, then harder, twisting his tongue as quickly as he could manage.

It was like nothing Roxas had ever felt before - it was so hot and wet and quick that he simply had no resistance to it, and he came with a long groan into Axel's mouth. Axel slowed his movements, eventually letting the now-limp flesh flop from his lips, before moving back up along Roxas' body to rest alongside the spent blond, lazily reclothing Roxas as he went. He leaned over the smaller boy to the bedside table, where an unopened bottle of water rested, flipping it open and taking a large swig before offering the bottle to Roxas, who took a chaste sip and handed it back. Once Axel dumped it back onto the nightstand, he settled in next to Roxas and draped an arm over him, snuggling in close and closing his eyes. They lay like that for a few minutes, comfortable, until eventually Roxas broke the silence.

"Axel?" The redhead opened his eyes and fixed his gaze on Roxas. "I... where did that come from?"

"I have no idea. Just wanted to. Is it... ok?"

"It was incredible, but uh... don't you want me to return the favour?"

"Nah, I'm in the mood for snuggling just now, if you don't mind."

"Oh. Well, ok then." He planted a short kiss on Axel's lips, and watched as Axel's eyes drifted closed, before casting his own around the room. Axel's room was quite large, with an expensive computer sitting on the desk, a beautifully thick shag carpet and light blue walls. The entirety of one wall was taken up with a walk-in wardrobe, but the walls were completely bare. Next to one of the wardrobe doors, a line of picture frames leaned haphazardly against the wall, unhung despite the room having been occupied for just over a month. They were lined up one behind the other, so the only one visible was a large photograph of what looked like hand holding a ball of fire. He grinned.

Roxas was so comfortable, he could have drifted off to sleep much like Axel was already on his way to doing, but the little tableau was interrupted by the trilling of Roxas' cellphone from his bag near the door. He shifted out from under Axel's arm and sat up to the sound of Axel grunting a 'hmph'. He crossed the floor and fumbled for his phone, not even bothering to check the caller ID before flipping it open and answering,

"Hello?"

"Rox, where are you? I thought you'd be home from fight club thing by now."

"Sora! God, sorry. I, uh.. I'm-"

"Oooh, you're at Axel's, aren't you? Are you naked?"

"SORA! On what planet is that even REMOTELY appropriate?"

"This one!"

"Godammit Sora, you have such a gutter mind. Listen, I'll be leaving soon and when I get home I can-" He was interrupted by Axel, who had walked up behind him and pointed at the computer he'd just booted up.

"Rox, you can VoIP him there if you want, I'm just gonna go grab something to eat from downstairs. You want something?"

"Yeah, something sugary. Sora? I'll be there in a minute, hang on for me."

"Sure." He hung up the phone and sat down at Axel's computer, which had an enormous screen. After a few moments, he opened the VoIP software and waited for it to log in. As soon as he had done so, it rang shrilly, and he picked up, accepting Sora's initiated video call. The image on his screen blurred, then settled into the familiar form of his brother.

"Hi Rox! Whoa, Axel's webcam is waaaaaay better than yours. Are - are you in his room?"

"Yeah..."

"As are you, just now." Axel called as he entered the room, throwing a plate of baklava in front of Roxas. "I take it you're Sora, nice to meetcha. I'm Axel."

"Heard a lot about you."

"You too. Where are you right now?"

"Pride Lands. It's mating season, I'm surprised the lionesses haven't asked Dad out yet."

Roxas guffawed at this, and Axel grinned. "Call me dumb, but last I checked, lions didn't *have* a mating season."

"They don't, but the ones here do because it's just before the time of year when food is most abundant. They've got it locked down tight, it's pretty sweet. Lots of cubs around at the same time, it's so cute! Hey, Axel, has Rox managed to actually smack you one yet? He described that keyblade thing to me, sounds kinda awesome."

Roxas blushed. "You *would* say that, wouldn't you, Sor. I'm doing just fine, thanks."

"What? It's a SWORD that looks like a KEY, how can that not be cool! Maybe you'll find some giant door to unlock!" At this, Axel spilled over into open laughter.

"The doooooor to your soooouuuulllll!"

* * *

_I_ _'_ _m_ _a_ _Speaker._ _I_ _can_ _control_ _light._  The thoughts repeated themselves over and over and over in his mind. It was 4am, and Roxas still had not slept; the mixed emotions from the day conspiring to occupy his thinking until not even a hammer blow to the head could have sent him to sleep. But every so often, he drifted back to Axel, and the thought of Axel's hands touching him, stroking him, and then Axel's  _mouth_  around his... The thought was so intense that Roxas allowed his hands to wander, groaning quietly as he bit the back of one hand to silence himself and stroking himself shallowly with the other, curling his hand over an erection brought on by a memory, then gripping himself tighter as he arched his back, digging his head further into his pillow until he came with a stuttered sigh and wide eyes, mercifully containing it all in his hand so he could clean up easier. Deciding to do so, he stepped out of bed and felt his way down the hall, but when he got to the bathroom, instead of turning on the light, he stood stock still, and imagined the feeling of the rush of what it felt like to draw the sand to him on the beach, and whispered quietly,

" _Light_?" The bathroom light switched itself on. Roxas grinned to himself, cleaned up, and slept hard when he returned to bed.

* * *

The next week passed by in a total blur for Roxas - training continued, game night came and went, he went out with his mother for a nice meal, and the weekend was spent at his own house, where his friends all came around for the whole Saturday, Axel for the first time. In the space of that same week, Roxas learned how to maintain a small barrier at all times, a fact that Vincent heaped praise on him for, as he managed the feat more quickly than the older man had guessed he would. He also kept up the weapon practice, feeling slightly more and more frustrated as he found his grip failing the more he tried to do. The more energy he put into an attack, the likelier he found himself in a sprawled heap on the floor. It was happening more often than not, and he could not work out how to rectify the problem. He tried different grips; two-handed felt wrong, but with it in either hand felt unbalanced. However, he refused to be drawn on it, determined to succeed and convinced it was only a learning curve.

On Monday afternoon during English, Roxas noticed Axel studying Xemnas closely, and afterwards quizzed him about it. Axel answered that he did not trust Xemnas one iota, not one jot, but Roxas maintained he was being paranoid, and dismissed the discussion almost as soon as it had begun.

Tuesday morning brought the same subject, this time tending towards an argument, which Axel opened.

"Roxas. Are you even slightly worried about where Leon has gone to?" The words were carefully neutral, but Axel could tell by how Roxas set his jaw that he was not pleased with the question.

"No, I'm not. What makes you think something is wrong? You're sounding really-"

"Paranoid, I know." He sighed. "Look, I can't really explain it. It's just... I mean, I was talking to him only two weeks ago about the Struggle, and he seemed so excited about it - I just have this bad feeling about Xemnas in general, like he's not good news. I looked up the school he said he was from - it's some kind of creepy Hitler Youth-type private school, or it was. It was shut down a few months ago, but there's no notice as to why. And then he comes here a few weeks later, and..." He was silenced by the too-loud clattering of several pens on the desk next to him, as Roxas flung down what he was holding in frustration.

"Oh for fu- Look, you need to chill out. You've already said this, You've rabbited on and on about him, I get it. There is NOTHING wrong - don't you think that if something bad had happened to someone as nice as Leon, that maybe he'd have family that would raise some hell about it? Or friends?"

Axel did not have an answer for this, and the argument would have stopped there, but unfortunately, Roxas' mouth did not stop there. "Exactly. Just because Axel the Great and Terrible says something mysterious doesn't mean we all have to jump to attention." Axel stilled; Roxas felt the faintest edge of a dangerous aura, but carried on regardless, even while a part of him screamed that he was going to regret every word of this later.

"Axel the  _what_?"

"Axel the Great and Terrible." Roxas was trying to be funny, but his words hit a particular nerve point for the older boy, whose eyes flashed with hot fury, face whitened, and then he spoke so quietly Roxas was forced to be silent just to hear what he had to say.

"Is that what you really think?"

Without thinking, Roxas answered him.

"Well, you know, you  _did_  say you could go insane at any moment and start..."

"You're right. I did. Which is probably a reason you shouldn't say dumb things to me." Without further ado, he angrily picked up his bag and book, and stormed out of the classroom.

Roxas sat still for a moment, stuck fast by the reality of what had just happened. The door burst open, and he looked at it quickly, expecting to see the redhead reentering, but instead, Xemnas' decidedly more filled-out frame charged through the doorway, slamming the door closed behind him. Roxas sank low into his seat, realising that whatever damage he had done, it would be two hours before he could repair it.

* * *

The moment the class was over, Roxas raced out to find Axel, but a breakneck run to the cafeteria revealed nothing. After a lunch sitting in silence while his friends babbled mindlessly and Roxas could do nothing but think of Axel's reaction to his earlier jape, he dejectedly loped to his locker, and opened it up. A piece of paper that had been stuck in the vents on the locker door fluttered to the ground, and he picked it up.

_Rox,_

_I need time to cool off. I'm going to skip MA club this evening. Give me a call when you're out._

_Great and Terrible_


	10. Chapter 9 - in Which GURRRL THERE BE DRAMA UP IN HERE

It was with a heavy heart that Roxas turned up to the club that evening - although seeing both Demyx and Zexion cheered him up, the guilt about his earlier insensitivity and poor choice of words hung like a black cloud over the entire evening. He had not given much thought to the pressure that was on Axel, nor his mental state after the bombshell of finding out that he was a Leech Speaker - which Reno had, in an uncharacteristically quiet moment, explained to Roxas was somewhat akin to being suddenly told you have a psychopath gene, but it comes with the ability to fly. The more he thought about it, the more rotten he felt about his thoughtless comments.

"May I have your attention please?" Xemnas called from one end of the gym. The club milled around him. He was not alone - instead, he was flanked by seven others of varying appearance - two women and five men - who hung back deferentially, silent. "Sadly, without Leon, your previous facilitators have chosen not to return, but I have managed, at great expense of effort, to acquire some new facilitators - please give them a warm welcome." There was an awkward round of half-hearted applause. "There is one more issue I would like to discuss with you. Out of all of the martial arts taught here, only one is weaponised. I would like to offer you all the chance to learn to use a weapon as well. I believe that is the reason that this club has traditionally not had that much success in the Struggle, so, to that end, I have brought some new resources with me, but it is up to you if you want to take them up - please take a moment to have a look at the rack behind me, there is a nice selection here. They are much like shinai - wooden practice weapons." Roxas froze. "If you see Xigbar here," he indicated the scarred gent to his left, "he will assist you in choosing a weapon for yourselves."

Half of the club started for the weapon rack, while the other half took up their usual places around the room, beginning the warm up without their compatriots. Zexion walked to the total opposite end of the room, ignoring the offer of weapons and burying his nose in a book labelled 'Fighting Forms', waiting patiently for the rest of his group to join him.

Demyx also ignored the rack, instead grabbing an armful of shinai and trotting over to the space usually occupied by the kendo group.

Roxas was on the fence. Should he take up a weapon, another? In the space of a month, he'd begun training in three different disciplines, and starting with a new one would be quite a stretch on his time. He followed his group over to their spot, picked up one of the shinai Demyx had trucked over and ran through several stances with the sandy-blond, who bore a casually inquisitive expression that hinted at quiet concern.

"Hey Rox, where'd Axel go?"

"He's got family stuff, he had to miss out this week."

"Oh." He seemed placated, but thoughtful. "Ok then."

* * *

The remaining session passed without incident or occurrence of note, although the kendo group facilitator caused Roxas to rethink his earlier assessment - he had thought their new facilitators numbered five men and two women, but the decidedly male voice emanating from the pink-haired individual who purred words of encouragement forced a quick mental recount. Afterwards, having watching the rest of the club file out quietly, Roxas lingered, mulling over the argument in his head once again. A quick check on his phone showed a disappointingly sad lack of contact from Axel, which Roxas took to mean that the redhead was still angry at him. Eventually, Roxas noticed he was alone, and walked over to the new weapons trunk, curious about the similarities between Xemnas' self-lauded new practice woods, and Vincent's self-crafted ones. Immediately, he could see they were inferior - Xemnas' were all carved from the same timber; Vincent's were made of different lumbar, to better emulate the weight and balance of the original weapon. Secondly, they were dented and not undamaged - Vincent took great care to regularly sand and oil his, leading them to always look in their best condition.

Then he saw it it. Tucked at the back behind all of the weapons, a poorly constructed keyblade, unevenly hewn and not very well sanded down. Obeying a compulsion, Roxas reached in and picked up the object, lifting it free and giving it a few test swings. It was not as badly balanced as he had assumed it would be. He began to move with it, unconsciously running through the stances and move sets he had been practising with Axel and Vincent. After a few minutes, Roxas laughed to himself and returned to its home, grabbed his gear bag and raced out the door, hammering out a text message as he ran. He completely failed to notice a set of golden eyes following his path.

Xemnas stepped out from his vantage point in the shadow of the door, a curious look on his face. He had recognised the move set Roxas had gone through immediately, but that the little blond had used a keyblade with obvious prior skill had taken him by pleasant surprise. Could it be...?

"My my, Vincent. Taken a little protégé?

* * *

Roxas ate hurriedly when he got home, and sent a brief mitigating message to Sora explaining that he needed to speak to Axel and clear the bad air between them. After sufficiently building himself up, he nervously dialled Axel's number and waited for him to answer. When the phone finally picked up, the voice on the other end was not remotely what he expected.

"Hey, baby." The voice was sultry, slow and deep. "You been thinking about me?"

"Wh-what? Axel?"

"Yeah, baby. You're sounding so sexy tonight."

"Er... right. Look, Ax, I just wanted to apologise for what I said earlier, I didn't-"

"No trouble, baby. Why don't you make it up to me now? What're you wearing?"

Roxas was stunned into silence. This was  _not_  what he had been expecting, and was creeping him out. "Huh? Axel what the f-"

"Sssssh, it's all good, baby. Just take those pretty little fingers of yours, and tiptoe them down your- fuck, OW!" There was a loud 'clunk', and suddenly the voice changed entirely, both in tone and volume, leading Roxas to understand the phone had been dropped. From afar, he heard "Fuck, Axel, that hurts, yo!" The fog lifted, and Roxas realised that Reno had answered the phone, and he almost slapped himself for not recognising the elder Valentine sibling. A fumbling noise told him the phone had been snatched up off the floor.

"Roxas, wait there a minute. Reno, get out before I burn you alive." There was an audible shuffling before a door slammed, and Axel sighed. "Rox. Sorry about that. Idiot."

"Axel, I'm so sorry about earlier, I don't know what came over me, i couldn't stop myself. I feel awful."

"...it's ok. I got a bit oversensitive, and I regret that." He sounded very calm, and Roxas was put at ease. "Did I miss much?"

"Yes. Something big, I think. Xemnas, he..." Roxas paused, thinking how to word it.

Axel's voice instantly became deadly serious. "What happened."

"Well, he's got a rack of woods, just like Vincent's. Except they don't look like they're made as well. There're loads, and there was even a keyblade."

"Roxas." Axel's tone took on a dangerous note. Roxas stopped short. "Did you pick anything up?"

"No. Neither did Zexy, or Demyx. Actually, only about half the club took any interest. I only looked at them as I was leaving." This was not technically a lie, but somehow, Roxas felt cautious about even mentioning picking up the poor-quality keyblade when no-one was around - he guessed Axel would not be pleased.

"This... seems kind of weird. Why would he even have woods? Vincent had to make his own, and he's been training people for so long... Xemnas took over the club last week, why would he have made or gotten a set of woods in a week?"

"I have no idea."

"We have to be careful around this guy, find out what he's up to."

"Yeah." A thought occurred to him. "Hey, Ax, I got an idea."

"Oh?"

"Well, I saw on the gym timetable tomorrow, it'll be empty in the afternoon because of the football game - we could bring our own woods and use the space. No-one would bother us, half the town turns up to the football games, and it's the first one of the season, so even less likely anyone will see us."

"That... sounds like a great idea, Rox. I've been dying to use that room properly, lots of room to run around. Ok. I'll bring our woods in the car, and we can grab them after the game starts."

"Ok. Ha!" Roxas let out a clipped laugh. "I just had the weirdest thought. Imagine Vincent teaching MA club."

"Oh god, not sure who would be worse, Xemnas or Vincent."

"Yup. See you tomorrow. Night, Axel."

"Night, Roxas."

* * *

The plan went off with only one minor hitch - the gym doors were locked, but Axel quickly took care of that, utilising the same method he had used to break onto the balcony atop the train station, then locking it behind him. Once inside they both headed immediately to the rack at the far end of the gym, Axel lifting out and testing various woods, scowling all the while. He smirked when he reached the small chakrams, unburdened by the set of spikes his own oversized set were decorated with. After laughing at the relatively poor craftsmanship involved, the two settled into a gentle unending duel, stopping every so often so Axel could grab a drink of water. On the fourth such breather, Roxas gave the older boy a mock punch in his arm.

"You're such a cheat," Roxas grinned, "with your cheaty two weapons."

"Huh!"

"I've only got one! Cheater. Such a cheat." He was still beaming, and his infectious smile caused Axel to snigger, too.

"Look, twink, there's another keyblade  _right_ _over_ _there_ , if you want to be such a little bitch about it." He stood, trotted over to the weapon rack, picked up the keyblade, and tossed it to the blond, who caught it easily, and raised both woods in front of him.

It was like a bolt of lightning had struck him - at last he felt balanced. The two keyblades in his hand felt  _perfect_. He gave them an experimental flourish, and even Axel stopped short and gaped.

"Holy smokes, Rox, that... looks so right."

"It  _feels_  right, y'know? Wow. Come at me, I want to see if it makes a difference." Without saying another word, Axel ran at Roxas, chakrams raised aggressively. Roxas steeled himself, adopting an open stance, and as Axel reached him, he sidestepped slightly, bringing up the keyblades to first defend, then sideswipe Axel, striking him squarely on his bicep.

The redhead jerked awkwardly as he fell, but was on his feet instantly, and there was a difference in the set of his shoulders as his smirked again. "I think Vincent's gonna have to pop another one of those babies out. What do you think?"

It was so much better with two keyblades in hand that Roxas was almost angry at himself for not working it out earlier. He was enjoying himself more, as was Axel, who was clearly having to gimp himself far less now. An hour passed, until they were interrupted by the ringing of Axel's phone. He answered it, out of breath, sweat pouring down his cheeks.

"Hello? Oh, hi Dad, what's- no, I'm fine, just sparring with Roxas. No, it's fine. You- what, right now?" He looked at his watch. "Yeah, ok. I'll leave now. Ok, see you soon." He hung up abruptly, and look apologetically at Roxas. "My dad wants me to give him a hand loading up the van - he's got a big ball tonight where he's giving some prize to some benefactor, and Reno's still at college."

"It's fine. You go. I don't mind."

"You'll be around later, though?"

"Yeah, definitely. I want to tell Vincent about this!"

"Alright, see you around seven."

"Cool, see you." Axel grabbed the woods and ran off, giving Roxas a quick peck on the cheek as he did so, leaving Roxas alone to shower and change, which he did after slowly ambling along into the locker room.

* * *

The school was silent, and Xemnas took advantage of the quiet afternoon to reflect on where he was up to. He drew a gilt-edged journal from a locked drawer in his cabinet and opened it, pausing to cast a critical eye over the last few entries before putting pen to paper, detailing his thoughts on the previous night.

He was so absorbed in what he was doing that he almost missed the gentle pulling sensation at the back of his mind, but when he did, he immediately dropped what he was doing and left his office, listening intently for any sound in the deserted school. After a moment, he heard the edge of a clacking sound from the direction of the gym, and he took off in that direction, moving silently in the abandoned halls. When he got there, he took a tentative glimpse through the windows set into the doors. When it was evident he would not be seen, he leaned closer to get a better look.

Inside, he saw the tall, unco-ordinated redhead and scrawny blond from his English class, and the martial arts club, sparring using beautifully-built wooden practice weapons - the redhead with a customised pair of elegant chakrams, and the blond - Roxas, the name rose to memory (he had looked him up after the previous evening's discovery), though he was sure he had not noted the redhead's - with a wooden keyblade. They were so relaxed with each other that Xemnas knew instantly they trained together, leading him to further his understanding from last night that Vincent was training both of them. It was evident from their casual sparring that the redhead's skill level at the club was carefully engineered to appear far worse than it actually was - his stance was easy, relaxed, even when the blond put everything he had into the attacks he made. Xemnas watched them, fascinated, until they both stopped. He wondered if it was either of them who had alerted his Speaking side, but, just as he was about to send out a probing feeler to see if either of them had a larger-than-normal Will potential, they stopped fighting, and after some banter which he could not make out, the redhead walked towards the weapon rack and picked up Xemnas' own keyblade, then tossed it casually at Roxas, who caught it and immediately began to swing it, testing.

Xemnas' heart stopped, and he ceased breathing. Two. Two keyblades. The boy was easily wielding two keyblades. Although he could tell it was the first time Roxas had done so, his immediate skill was apparent, and the redhead noticeably stepped up his approach.

This was the one he had been looking for. There was a tight coil in the pit of his stomach, but a nasty smirk curling on his lips, as the full implication slammed into him. Xemnas wanted to cry and scream at once, but managed to hold his tongue in order to watch the two boys in their little scrap, and he hardly noticed an hour go by, until the a phone rang. The redhead answered it, and after a brief exchange, kissed the blond on the cheek, picked up their wooden weapons and ran towards the door Xemnas was watching through. Panicking, Xemnas hung back and hid himself in the shadow next to the door. Thankfully, the redhead's thoughts were elsewhere, and he did not notice the silver-haired man, who was not very inconspicuous. Conveniently, this left the blond alone. He watched the boy slowly walk into the locker room, before entering into the gym and taking a seat on the stands near the door.

With a gush of steam, at last the locker room door opened, and the small blond walked out, brushing his damp hair as he went. His gait slowed as he spotted his teacher sitting calmly, observing him.

"Quite a unique talent you have there. You've been holding out on your clubmates, I think." Flustered, the blond tried to respond, but Xemnas held up his hands placatingly. "Don't worry. I'm joking. Still though, Roxas, you have great melée potential. Have you thought about entering the Struggle after Christmas?"

"Well, no sir, not really. That's more-" He was cut off.

"What a dreadful shame - I should have very much liked to have seen a trophy with the club's name on it. Those lovely keyblades are great bludgeoning weapons - perfect training for the batons used in the Struggle." As he spoke, he pushed out with his Will, attempting to tease the primitive parts of Roxas' mind into compliance. He saw Roxas' eyelids droop, and his shoulders relaxed, and his heart soared as he won.

"...you think so?" Roxas answered, sounding tired and confused.

"Oh, I know so. Tell you what. Meet me here tonight at seven thirty, and we can run through a few drills, see if you're suitable."

"But I'm meant to be-"

"Nonsense - you can see your friend any time. This is important." The blond's face revealed inexplicable defeat, and Xemnas smiled benevolently. "Just yourself, mind; wouldn't want to let on what we're up to, don't want to get anyone's backs up. It's not every student I give special treatment to." Roxas nodded slowly and asked dreamily, as the force of Xemnas' Will took hold and his resistance melted away.

"Not even Axel?"

Xemnas narrowed his eyes, and suddenly a lot of things became clearer. "No, not even... Axel."

"Ok."

"Good. I shall see you here at seven thirty, sharp."

"Yes sir." Roxas walked off, trancelike, in the direction of the exit doors, and Xemnas sat down, ruminating on what had just been revealed. An interesting turn of events, no doubt - precisely the person he needed for his plans had fallen into his lap, but on top of that, someone completely unexpected - Axel Valentine. There could not be two tall, unnaturally flame-haired Axels within a hundred miles of each other. Xemnas smiled, before pulling his phone out of his pocket. Dialling slowly, he waited for an answer.

"I've got a surprise for you."

* * *

Seven o'clock came and went, and Axel started to clockwatch - Roxas was never late. Ten past seven ticked past, he started to worry. Twenty past seven stretched past, and Axel picked up the phone, but it rang and rang with no answer. Finally, it went past seven thirty, and Axel lost all sense of patience. He tried Roxas again, but to no avail. Slapping the phone shut, he drew in his Will gently so as not to alert his uncle as to his action, and softly reached out to sense where Roxas was, to find he was the same distance away he had been all afternoon, and in the same direction - Roxas had not left the school. On the way, Axel noted a potential pool of Will in Roxas' vicinity, and he immediately ran down the stairs, panic twisting his features as he hopped into his car and pulled out of the driveway, observed silently by a pair of crimson eyes.


	11. Chapter 10 - In Which it's Time to Say Goodbye

Roxas walked into the gym just after seven thirty, to find Xemnas was already there, waiting for him. Two keyblades lay on the ground in front of a training dummy, both of them covered in thin layers of foam, not unlike the batons used in the Struggle. There was a thick smell in the air; not unlike incense. It made Roxas feel slightly dizzy, but he pressed on until he was standing where Xemnas indicated. The silver-haired man stood next to Roxas, towering over him and glaring at him with peach-coloured eyes.

"Roxas. Welcome. I am glad you came; together we can bring this trophy back to the school for the first time in years, and make a proper name for the martial arts club. What say you?" The words were gentle, soft, and yet carried with them an air that Roxas dared not argue with. He nodded hesitantly. "Excellent. I saw you sparring today with two keyblades; was that the first time you have used them as such?"

"Mmhm."

"I thought as much. You were quite the natural, young man. I am happy to say. However, I should like to observe your form solo." He took Roxas through a number of stances, correcting the angle of an elbow or quietly pushing a foot back to align heels as Roxas moved and obeyed. He seemed satisfied with each turn, and Axel's earlier words of warning floated away in the incense-filled, lavender-scented haze.

"Well done, Roxas. You have great potential. However... there is one last test I should like you to undertake. If you would be so good as to back up a little bit, and take a running leap at the dummy, striking it as hard as you possible can with both keyblades at once, I should be much obliged." It was a simple request, and then Roxas could be on his way.

He shook his head softly, attempting the clear the buzzing sound from within, and walked backwards a few yards, until Xemnas nodded. He focused on the incredibly lifelike dummy, on its slate-gray limp wig, and took a deep breath, preparing to sprint. Xemnas gave a curt nod, and Roxas launched himself into a run, flinging himself into the air several feet from the dummy, raising his keyblades as he did so.

" **ROXAS** **NO!** " The shout distracted Roxas and momentarily cleared his mind, and he missed the dummy entirely, landing hard on the floor in a heap. When he got a hold of himself, he saw Axel at the far end of the gym, staring concernedly at him. The redhead was pointing frantically at the dummy, and when Roxas actually  _looked_  at the dummy, his blood instantly ran cold.

The dummy was not a dummy at all, being as how dummies didn't  _bleed_  or  _bruise_ , but in fact was a person - a small person of the same stature as Roxas, woozy but moving, and attempting to open bloodshot blue eyes.

"Z-Zexion? What's going on?" Roxas cried, confused.

Axel started for him, but a shadow appeared behind him and struck him him hard over the head, knocking him down mid-stride. Axel crumpled to the floor, but immediately rolled over still conscious. The figure above him smirked down at him, and even from halfway across the enormous gym, Roxas saw the colour drain from the usually-fiery redhead's face at the sight of the person standing over him.

"Isa?" Axel's voice was incredulous, but coated with a fear Roxas had thought him incapable of.

Ugly yellow eyes sparkled underneath a mountain of electric blue hair, and a well-built young man a few inches shorter than Axel said snippily, "It's Saix now. How've you been, Lealoo? I've been fine, thanks. Just got thrown out of school, and my mother disowned me, you know how it is. How fortuitous that my father understood and took me in when I was most vulnerable."

Axel's eyes widened, and he spluttered an disbelieving response. "Xemnas is your FATHER?"

"Indeed. Could you imagine how surprised I was, to get a phone call today saying that the marvellous Axel Valentine was not only living in Twilight Town, but in my father's little retard's fight club? Delicious." He delivered a swift, brutal kick to the prone subject of his speech, winding Axel and preventing him from any attempt to stand. "You're not so tough without your dearest uncle to stand over you, are you. ARE YOU!" His voice was unhinged, and Roxas put two and two together, working out that this was the ex-boyfriend Axel had spoken about; the one who had almost killed him in a fit of passion. Looking at the boy now, he could believe it. Saix's expression was that of a madman, and he punctuated each sentence with a vicious kick to Axel's stomach, until the slimmer boy coughed and spurted a mouthful of blood as he did so. However, he did not make a sound, which only served to enrage Saix further, but he was silenced with a placating 'sssh' from behind Roxas. Xemnas' voice indicated his had not moved, but Roxas did not turn to him as he spoke, instead, stared stricken at Axel struggling to breathe through a wet throat.

"Axel!"

"I would be more concerned with yourself, Roxas."

"What are you going to do to him?"

Xemnas roared with laughter at Roxas' question, and even Saix smiled cruelly. "Your hero is none of my concern, dear child, you are the only interest I have this evening. Although my son's toy interrupted us at such an inopportune time, it is of no concern to me - you will complete the task I set you, and you will do so immediately, or I will dismember this boy," - he indicated Zexion, still groggily stood still where he had been since Roxas first entered the gym - "in front of you. Now, pick up your keyblades."

Without thinking, Roxas looked down at the wooden weapons he had dropped in the fall after his aborted jump, only to find they were not wooden, but steel keyblades, blunt and shiny. "What.. what the hell are these?"

Xemnas sniffed unhappily. "Those are actual keyblades, not stupid wooden practice imitations. I suppose your dear trainer has probably never even suggested that you utilise two at once? Vincent knows as well as I do what they are capable of." The quiet gasp from the floor hammered home what Roxas had just noted - Xemnas knew of Vincent. From what Axel had told him of Vincent's assumed former-or-current line of work, this could only be bad news. "Two keyblades, striking a living creature at once, have the power to pass straight through that creature and tear its soul from its still-breathing body. There has not been a keyblade wielder on this world in some time, and it has been many ages since a dual-wielder graced the stage. One cannot simply pick up two keyblades - weapons choose their wielder."

' _Ultimately,_ _the_ _weapon_ _chooses_ _its_ _wielder._ ' Vincent's use of the same words echoed in in Roxas' mind.

"But what happens to those souls untimely ripped from their owners? Well, they are just left... floating. I thought I could make use of them, and indeed by extension, of you."

' _Run,_ _Roxas._ ' The voice whispered into his mind, urgent but weak.

"You see, I am not about to pass up an opportunity like the one you present to me."

' _Run,_ _Roxas!_ ' The voice called, louder this time.

"Strike the idiot boy, Roxas."

"Roxas,  _RUN!_ " Axel screamed out loud, and finally kicked Roxas' overwrought mind into taking action. The little blond obeyed the one voice he trusted, and stood, darting out of Xemnas' clutches, past Saix's grabbing reach, and headed for the exit. He turned briefly, but the voice in his mind rang out clearly, reassuring him.

' _Help_ _is_ _coming._ _You_ _have_ _to_ _run_ _or_ _you_ _'_ _re_ _dead._ _GO!_ '

Without a second's hesitation more, Roxas fled the gym, praying as he ran that Axel was not lying to save him, forgetting in his hurry to drop the keyblades in his hands.

Axel collapsed back onto the ground, but his eyes were triumphant. Xemnas looked murderously at him, seemingly at a dilemma, but Saix nodded towards the door.

"Go after him, Dad. I wanted some privacy anyhow." He smiled one of the most twisted smiles Axel had ever seen, and Xemnas strode angrily out of the exit, fury emanating from every pore. The door swung back on itself after he exited, leaving the gym silent once more, until Saix leaned over close to Axel, licked some of the blood from the barely-conscious redhead's chin, continued up along his cheeks, and said,

"Nice tattoos. How's the neck?"

* * *

Roxas ran. He ran as though his life depended on it. He ran as though Axel's life depended on it. He ran, knowing that both of those statements were terrifyingly true. He ran faster than he had ever run, trying to aim for Axel's home where he knew Vincent and Reno would be waiting in the wings to save him. He ran with a sense of panic, turning to look over his shoulder every so often, cursing every time he saw the older man gaining on him. Xemnas moved as though he were walking on water, but he seemed to be shortening the distance between him and the frantically racing boy. He ran, and anger sped his shoes; anger at Xemnas for being Xemnas, anger at Saix for hurting Axel, anger at himself for being so stupid, anger at feeling like a coward while knowing it was his only option, and anger at the fact that he had run.

The streets blurred together into an endless labyrinth, and Roxas realised he was hopelessly lost, with no landmarks to orientate himself as he careened down side streets in a desperate attempt to stall for time until Axel's promised help arrived.

"Roxas, why are you running?" Xemnas growled, his voice not far enough away for Roxas' liking in any way. "You cannot escape your fate, my boy. You were almost in my grasp once, you will be so again and you will not even realise that it is so." Still, Roxas ran, falling around corners and tripping. Xemnas closed the gap with every misplaced footfall, but the adrenaline kept Roxas running.

"I understand of course, why you are running. Your delightful boyfriend back there told you to do so, and like a faithful puppy you are doing as you are told."

The terror threatened to engulf Roxas, but this statement brought with it a fresh wave of hot determination, as Roxas looked desperately for a sign that he was going in the right direction. He came to a T-Junction and paused for a millisecond, taking a right-hand turn and carrying on off down the street.

He was almost out of breath, running as fast as he could. The heavy weapons dragged him down and made his back ache, and his pursuer was still catching up. A stitch caught on his left side and he collapsed to his knees, wanting to thump the ground in his frustration, but without the energy to do so. He heard the footsteps behind him slow up and could almost hear the grin. Roxas was almost ready to give in.

"Well, Roxas, your weakness has failed you. Are you ready to be mine?"

Roxas tried to think of a response, but didn't know what to say. He was completely spent. A light by his foot caught his eye, and time seemed to slow as his brain registered what it was seeing. The ground began to glow in a wide curve in front of him, and he smiled.

Ten foot high flames burst from the aether in an enormous circle around him, and Roxas suddenly knew he was safe. Xemnas, for his part, had the decency to look surprised.

"I see that the red mongrel escaped from my idiot son. That is twice he has failed to kill you; I think I shall just have to disown him."

"Let Roxas go. He won't do what you want him to." Axel's voice was mercifully close, and though the flaming circle contained only Roxas and his pursuer, Roxas was more than relieved to see the older boy step through the wall of fire right next to Xemnas. Although Axel was very definitely injured, he appeared to be operating on animosity alone, and the ever-present smirk on his lips was a mangled look of pure hatred. Xemnas swallowed hard, but spoke calmly.

"Oh, I think not, firecrotch. People have a curious habit of complying with my wishes, even when they have no desire to - your little fire illusion is all very cute, but you are amusing only yourself.

"How do you know Vincent?" Axel's question was asked neutrally, but Roxas knew he was as afraid of the answer as Roxas himself was.

"We've met. It was a brief encounter. I am fairly certain he thought I did not walk away from it, but I have ways of distorting reality to hide myself. The question is, what is that dear old assassin doing playing with children for? Although..." He squinted at Axel. "That chin... those cheekbones... Of course. Not a son, far too old for that... Nephew perhaps?" Axel ground his teeth, and Xemnas laughed. "Oh dear me,  _Uncle_  Vincent?"

"Better than Daddy Xemnas." There was a triple popping, and the air next to Xemnas rippled as the silver-haired man stumbled backwards. At first, Roxas thought it was another fireball, but the swirling red ball slowed its movement, and instead Roxas could see Vincent's ebony hair become apparent. His blood-red cloak billowed around him, and one outstretched arm held a long, triple-barrelled gun. A glint of gold caught Roxas' eye at his side, and he could just about make out a metal glove on Axel's uncle's left arm. He had struck Xemnas on either shoulder, but the larger man stood straight, glaring at Vincent. "Like a bad penny, you just always keep on coming back again and again, don't you."

"It would seem you you just don't get the quality work these days, not even in your line of work, Valentine." Without warning, Xemnas struck out at Vincent, who hadn't expected a foolish fisticuff-slap. He backhanded the gun-toting assassin. Axel was about to laugh at the pathetic gesture, but Vincent dropped like a stone, leaving the two boys gaping.

"Silly idiot. The mind is my plaything. He should give me no more trouble for the night. Now, Axel dear-" He was cut off suddenly by the wall of flames receding, to reveal two figures who had been standing outside. Reno raised a long metal rod and the entire tip crackled as he rested it over his shadow. The air filled with electricity, and even his eyes were bursting with a blue charge. Beside him, Cloud held forth an enormous sword, the one that took up most of the back wall of Vincent's cabinet. In his hands, however, it did not look stupidly oversized, more like perfectly proportioned. They ran at Xemnas as one, but in a display of litheness, Xemnas dropped to the floor with his legs splayed out in front and behind him, meaning both Reno and Cloud missed him entirely and their momentum caused them to surge past. Xemnas sprang up, battling both on the head, and the two crumpled like Vincent before them, forming a small heap.

"Sleep, children." He sighed, and stooped, brushing a lock of hair out of Cloud's eyes. "And to think, this one felled Sephiroth." He barked a laugh. "Now, my dear boys. It's time for you to realise you cannot touch me. In fact, I'm rather glad that this big baby did take out that old Leech - there is no-one who can stop me, now." He made to move towards Roxas, but the wheels in both boys' heads turned as one. Roxas caught Axel's eye, and dropped his defenses.

Time stopped. Axel closed his eyes, and pulled in enough Will to light a small flame on his finger, but the surge of Will made him see stars. He realised then that Vincent, Reno and Cloud were deeply unconscious, and had no active defenses like that, and Xemnas himself would have had no idea how easily Axel could overcome barriers. Invigorated, he gathered with caution thrown to the wind, desperately sucking everything to him. Xemnas faltered, then fell hard on one knee, clutching at his chest. Roxas understood why - the pain as his Will was thieved from him was blinding.

Conversely, Axel felt higher than he ever had in his life. The force of the Will lifted him off the ground, arms outstretched, eyes burning with green fire. It was ecstasy; nothing could ever or would ever compare to that again. He was lost in the sensation, drawing and drawing and drawing, a lengthy roar escaping his lips. He wanted this to go on forever, this wondrous feeling, but the softest cry snapped him to attention.

"Axel..." Instead of focusing on the source, however, it was as though Axel remembered what he needed to do, and he fixed Xemnas with a look that seemed to contain the hate of a thousand people. He floated over towards the kneeling man, and reached a hand down to grip Xemnas' chin, pulling it up slowly to look Xemnas in the eye. Xemnas looked back up at him, trembling, tears gushing down his cheeks.

"What  _are_  you?"

"Someone who can stop you." The timbre of Axel's voice had a harmonic quality, like several voices speaking at once. Xemnas shook in terror. "And someone who has less mercy than he should." He floated back a few inches, and his eyes flashed as he spoke a simple word. " ** _Goodbye_**."

The effect was instantaneous, and devastating. The floor around Xemnas hummed, and a column of bright blue flame erupted, engulfing Xemnas and stretching upwards, reaching high into the sky. There was no sound as the man was consumed, but Roxas watched, horrified, as the redhead did not stop - instead, he tilted his head back and began to laugh hysterically.

The ripping pain did not end - as Axel continued to drain the Will from around him, Roxas could begin to feel his consciousness fade, darkness threatening the edge of his vision, and he had to act on instinct alone. He crawled towards the levitating madboy, and, using every last ounce of strength he had, he threw himself at Axel, calling his name as he did. He fell heavily against Axel, wrapping his arms around Axel's legs, and let the blackness overtake him.

* * *

"..no, I think he is... Roxas? Can you hear me?"

"Ax, he's  _clearly_  asleep."

"Did  _you_  turn the streetlights on?" A pause.

"Oh." A comforting wave of white light filtered through his eyelids as he attempted to open them carefully. The first sight he saw was Axel, standing over him, concern painted on his perfect face. Behind him, Reno was hunched, and Roxas could vaguely make out Cloud assisting Vincent to stand in the background.

"Roxas! You had me so worried! Are you ok?"

"Think so." Blinking, the ache in Roxas' back made him realise he was lying akwardly on the street, where he had fallen earlier. "What happened? You were-"

"I'm fine." He looked fine, better than fine - although his clothes were still blood-spattered, Axel looked the very picture of health, almost radiant, in fact. "Are you hurt?" Before answering, Roxas tested his limbs, before concluding that he was uninjured.

"Don't think so. Axel, is Xemnas...?"

"Ash." A brief, cold look passed across the redhead's face, but disappeared.

"Are you ok?"

"Not even remotely. Come on, we have to get back to the school and let Is- Saix out. He needs to be turned over to the proper authorities." The questioning look from Roxas urged further explanation. "There's been a warrant with his name on it since he disappeared after almost killing me, and if we don't walk in the door first, Reno will electrocute the fuck out of him."

* * *

Saix was handed over to the Twilight Town police department, who thanked the boys for their hand in collaring a violent offended. No mention was made of Xemnas, not even from Saix himself. Axel dropped Roxas home, sand the boy thanked Reno, Cloud and Vincent for coming to his aid. All shrugged it off, but Vincent made Roxas agree to stop by the house the next day to discuss the events of the evening after a night's sleep.

The next day at school was eye-opening - in the middle of the cafeteria at lunch, Axel sat down next to Roxas, rook his hand and held it there, to the amusement of their lunch companions. He followed this by kissing Roxas squarely goodbye at the end of the break, waving to a stunned blond as he retreated. From his vantage point on the stairs overlooking the cafeteria, Headmaster Cid grinned a triumphant grin.

After a vigorous art exercise, Roxas made his way out of the school to the car park, to find Axel waiting in his Elise. He dropped inside, pulling the door shut behind him, and fastened his seat belt.

"So are we officially boyfriends now?" The little blond asked, innocently. The air left Axel's lungs, and his throat was dry and incapable of sound, and Roxas carried on, regardless. "'Cos if you're going to keep doing things like earlier, people are going to talk. Not like I mind, per se, but I would like to be told these things beforehand."

"Do you want to be open with it?" Axel asked.

"Beats hiding it. All my friends know anyway."

"Ok then." There was a long silence.

"Well?"

"Well what?"

"Aren't you going to ask me to go steady? I want you to be my only special guy."

Axel looked at Roxas and met a doe-eyed, eyelash-fluttering expression that made him laugh so hard he almost swerved the car.

"Oh god, Roxas, those eyes! You nearly got us killed, hahaha! You win. Roxas... Be my girl?" He received a slap on the on the shoulder for a reply, and they both descended into bawdy laughter, but a small hand found its way to rest on top of long bony fingers on the gear stick.

* * *

They were seated in the living room. O'aka, Vincent, Cloud and Reno were waiting inside, and Roxas and Axel took the two remaining places arranged in a circle. O'aka poured them both tea from a large ornate teapot, and they each took a biscuit from the tray on the coffee table, then settled back, nervously. Roxas could feel Axel shaking next to him. As both had expected, Vincent spoke first.

"Axel."

"Yes."

"I'm quite sure you have been expecting this talk, so I shall not waste time. Let us get right down to it. Tell me what happened."

The redhead paused to take a breath, and began slowly.

"Last week, our martial arts club was taken over by our English teacher, creeper number one. Seemed a bit weird that no-one even questioned his stupid explanation why. I decided to skip this week to do a little digging, and he started handing out woods at the club. Then yesterday, he must've seen us sparring in the gym when no-one was around, and he convinced Roxas to meet him at the gym last night, and Roxas blew me off, so I decided to go see what was up. He was talking to Roxas, and he had two wooden keyblades, and then he got Roxas to swing at this dummy he had set up, but when Roxas stepped back, his two woods must've switched 'cos they were real. and at the same time, the dummy changed too - it was a person tied to a pole, one of the kids in our class." Roxas sank into the cushions of the sofa, embarrassed at the recounting of his inability to spot the illusions Xemnas had constructed. Vincent noticed, and interrupted Axel.

"Understandable - Xemnas' power over the mind is remarkable. Continue."

"Well, I ran in and screamed at Rox to stop, and he fell over, and then something clocked me from behind - Isa is Xemnas' son, and he was there. Xemnas made some speech about souls and keyblades, and I told Roxas to run, so he did. Isa - Saix - got the drop on me, but I beat him out to it."

"How?"

"Played possum." His grimaced, grinding his jaw. "Bastard got cocky, went for my belt. I headbutted him and locked him in my locker." Reno let loose an involuntary guffaw. "Then I called you guys and ran after Xemnas."

"I see." Vincent nodded. "Well, I saw much of that, but... do tell me, how did you defeat him?"

Axel swallowed a sudden lump in his throat. O'aka put an arm around his younger son, and squeezed his shoulders encouragingly, a move that seemed to reassure Axel that his actions would not be judged harshly.

"I... leeched Will from all of you and then I burned him alive."

O'aka's hand stiffened, Reno gaped and Vincent's eyes hardened.

"I didn't want to," the boy went on, "It was just he was gonna kill Roxas and he's already killed Leon and god knows how many others and then he said that thing about the souls and I panicked and then-" He babbled animatedly, shame and regret spilling over. Vincent stood, crossed the room and sat down in front of him, instantly wrapping his arms around him, pulling the boy close, silencing him with a soothing shush and stroking his hair. The other participants in the discussion leaned closer, each putting a comforting hand on the youth, who broke down into the tears he had held back since the events of the previous night.

"Ssssh, Axel. Sssssssh. It's fine. You did the only thing you could do, the only thing that would work. You did what I failed to do a number of years ago, the thing that needed to be done. Please don't feel worse than you should. You saved countless lives in destroying Xemnas; please understand this. But... I have to ask you a question I don't want to know the answer to, but I must know. What did it feel like?"

Axel sniffed, grabbing at a tissue from the table. He wiped his eyes and blew his nose, delaying the response as much as he could. "It felt... It felt wonderful," he sobbed. "Like the greatest high of my life. Like the world revolved around me for that instant, and I could have crushed it in my hand if I'd wanted it. It was exhilarating. But... I could have killed you all, and it was only because Roxas called me, it sort of snapped me out of it and then... yeah. But I feel different now - kinda hollow."

"You absorbed Xemnas' Will as you killed him - his potential is now part of you. You are stronger because of it, but you will probably need a while to adjust to it."

"Oh. Is that... why..."

"Yes. That is why Leeches snap - they get that taste and crave it again."

"I  **never**  want to do it again. Feeling him die was just the worst thing. I wasn't myself; it wasn't right." Relief washed over the room, in Vincent's face most of all as the facade he usually wore trickled away.

"Good. Good. I think - maybe we should take a week off, get back to normal a little. First though..." He reached under the coffee table and pulled out a wooden keyblade, darker than Roxas' own. "Roxas, this is a gift to you. I don't know exactly what Xemnas said to you, but the truth of the legend of two keyblades, if a legend is what it is, has been muddled with time - only once before has a keyblade wielder ever had two - it's a difficult weapon to use anyway, never mind two of them - and that other was a Speaker who practiced necromancy. The latter fact was obscured by our forebears, so the story came to be about the keyblades, not the Speaker. Do not concern yourself."

"Oh. Um. Sweet!" He took the keyblade from Vincent, and Axel wrapped his arms around him, breathing softly in his ear,

"Thanks... for pulling me back."

* * *

Later that evening, Axel and Roxas lay under the covers in Axel's room, free of all clothing and thoroughly sated. Roxas began to drift off to sleep, while Axel stroked his cheek lovingly, planting tiny, featherlight kisses down the blond's neck and chin. Before he drifted off entirely, though, a question bubbled up.

"Could you turn the heating down? It's boiling in here."

"There's no heating plumbed into this room."

"...That makes sense."

"Sorry, you'll just have to get used to it."

Roxas was almost asleep now, but one last thought fought its way to be voiced. "You said... that nothing... could compare... to feeling all that Will."

Axel laughed sleepily, and snuggled Roxas closer to his chest. "I see you took that as a challenge."

Roxas giggled, and mumbled softly, "Love you, firecrotch."

"Love you too, twink."


	12. Epilogue

_Four Months Later_

Hayner had not lied, Axel mused to himself. Most of the town squeezed into the square, crammed in to watch the beginning rounds of the Struggle tournament. He had laughed when he had seen who his first round opponent was, and when the time came, he gave a curt wave to the group in his corner, who gave him a big cheer, crying his name loudly. He walked over to the centre of the stage, shaking hands with his sneering blond opponent, who removed his cap, flinging it to his own corner of the raised platform, revealing a familiar-looking scar between his eyebrows.

"You're toast, douchebag," Seifer spat.

Axel smiled; that same smile that Roxas remembered from the day they first met - a smile of intent.

"Unlikely."

* * *

_Fifteen Months Later_

The night was unseasonably cold, but the figure emerging from a pitch black alley behind the Quester's Rest Inn was neither dressed for the occasion, nor seemed bothered by that fact. He wore a baggy white tee-shirt, a pair of fingerless gloves and worn dress trousers, held in place by suspenders. With one hand, he tossed a deck of playing cards bound with a shoelace in the air, running the other through his shaggy brown hair and adjusting his thick spectacles as he did. From the eave of the Inn, he watched, cigarette in hand, as the Captain of the Royal Guard of the Radiant Knights came down the street and entered the Inn, long deep red hair flowing behind him as he went. The dark figure smiled a wide smile, and stubbed out the exhausted cigarette.

"One more, shonen..."

**THE END**


End file.
